Civil Code of Ukraine


The Civil Code of Ukraine is a Ukrainian codification of private law, basic normative legal act. It regulates personal non-property and property relations, based on legal equality, free will, property independence of their participants. It was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 16 January 2003.
Prior to the adoption of the Civil Code of Ukraine, the Civil Code of the Ukrainian SSR dated 18 July 1963 was in force on the territory of Ukraine. Following dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has shifted from the system of socialist law to civil law.

History

The objective necessity of adopting a new civil code arose immediately after the proclamation of independence and the reorientation of economic development to a market path. At the same time, due to the difficult economic situation, many provisions of the Civil Code of the Ukrainian SSR, which contained provisions with the expression of amounts in rubles, lost their significance. To ensure the development of new economic relations, a number of laws were adopted, in particular “On Property”, “On Entrepreneurship”, “On Business Societies”.
The development of the code has been carried out for over 12 years, however, until the adoption of the final version among the legal community of Ukraine, no consensus was reached on certain provisions of the code. In particular, there was no consensus on the question of the existence of collective property, the independence of family law and private international law. As a result, the book "Family Law", which formed the basis of the Family Code of Ukraine, was removed from the Civil Code. Also later, a separate Law of Ukraine "On Private International Law" was adopted.
After adoption, the code was not signed by the President of Ukraine, but the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine overcame the President's veto by its decision. The main remarks of the President, which have not lost their relevance today, boiled down to contradictions between the Civil Code and the Economic Code of Ukraine adopted on the same day. The codes used different techniques for constructing legal structures and different terminology, but at the same time a number of social relations were simultaneously regulated by two codes.

The structure of the Civil Code

Built on the pandect system, the Civil Code of Ukraine consists of six books, delimited by scope:
  1. The Book One. General Provisions
  2. * Chapter 1. Basic Provisions
  3. * Chapter 2. Persons
  4. * Chapter 3. Objects of Civil Rights
  5. * Chapter 4. Transactions. Representation
  6. * Chapter 5. Terms and Conditions. Statute of Limitations
  7. The Book Two. Personal Intangible Rights of an Individual
  8. The Book Three. Ownership and Other Property Rights
  9. * Chapter 1. Ownership
  10. * Chapter 2. Proprietary Rights to Another's Property
  11. The Book Four. Intellectual Property Rights
  12. The Book Five. Law of Obligations
  13. * Chapter 1. General Provisions on Obligations
  14. * Chapter 2. General Provisions on Contracts
  15. * Chapter 3. Certain Types of Obligations
  16. * Subsection 1. Contractual Obligations
  17. * Subsection 2. Non-Contractual Obligations
  18. The Book Six. Inheritance Law
There were 1308 articles in the code at the adoption time. Articles of the Code are divided into parts, which in turn can be subdivided into paragraphs.

Scope of regulation

In essence and purpose, the Civil Code is a code of private law, ie a leading act in the system of legislation governing relations in the private sphere, its provisions should apply not only to traditional "purely civil" relations, but also to the relations of related parties. Thus, to regulate family relations, when using hired labor, in the areas of natural resources and environmental protection, the norms of the Civil Code are applied in a subsidiary manner, ie in cases where these relations are not regulated by other legislation.