Problematic issues of applying the category of “guilt” to legal entities
Abstract
An analysis of the Ukrainian legislation, as well as doctrinal approaches to understanding the guilt of a legal entity as a participant in civil relations, was carried out. It was concluded that the issue of the possibility of guilt in a legal entity within the limits of civil liability is determined by several factors of both an objective and subjective nature, namely: a) various mechanisms of forming the will of participants in civil legal relations; b) lack of understanding of the manifestation of the legal entity's own guilt as an independent participant in civil relations, or the guilt of members of its bodies, participants or employees; c) the absence of a direct indication in the current Civil Code of Ukraine on the existence of guilt in a legal entity, since the code (Article 96) contains a norm only about its responsibility.
Some questions remain unresolved: 1) does the category “guilt of a legal entity” exist at all; 2) if there is a legal entity's guilt, so which of the recognized doctrines should be applied - the doctrine of mental conditioning of the offender's behavior or the doctrine of objectively possible care and prudence in the behavior of a participant in a civil legal relationship.
Guilt as a basis for civil liability is taken into account in civil legal relations only between natural persons. There is no separate type of guilt of a legal entity, and any failure by it to fulfill its obligations is caused by the actions of its bodies, participants, and team. This subjective factor is not and cannot be taken into account when imposing civil liability on a legal entity.
Downloads
References
Bogdanov E.V., 2011. The problem of the essence of a legal entity [Problema sushchnosti yuridicheskogo litsa]. Sovremennoe parvo, No. 11, pp. 89-94.
Matveev G.K., 1955. Guilt in Soviet civil law [Vina v sovetskom grazhdanskom prave]. Kiev: Izdatel’stvo Kievskogo universiteta. (Ed.: Nikolaev K.P.).
Zhornokui V.H., 2018. Guilt of a legal entity: modern stage of study [Vyna yurydychnoi osoby: suchasnyi etap vyvchennia]. In: Kharkiv National University et al., Problems of civil law and process [Problemy tsyvilnoho prava ta protsesu]. Kharkiv: 25 May. Kharkiv: Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs. Pp. 248-251.
Zhornokui V.H., 2020. Guilt of a legal entity: the current state of the doctrine [Vyna yurydychnoi osoby: suchasnyi stan vchennia]. Pìdpriêmnictvo, gospodarstvo ì pravo – Entrepreneurship, Economy and Law, No/ 1, pp. 160-164.
Belov V.A. (Ed.), 2008. Civil Law: Actual Problems of Theory and Practice [Grazhdanskoe pravo: actual’nye problemy teorii i praktiki]. Moscow: Yurait-Izdat.
Maidanyk R.A., 2013. Civil liability [Tsyvilno-pravova vidpovidalnist]. In: Baulin Yu.V. (Ed.), Legal liability: problems of exclusion and release [Yurydychna vidpovidalnist: problemy vykliuchennia ta zvilnennia]. Donetsk: Kalmius. PP. 86-147.
Oigenzikht V.A., 1987. Morality and law. Interaction. Regulation. Deed [Moral’ i pravo. Vzaimodeistvie. Regulirovanie. Postupok]. Dushanbe: Irfon.
Prymak V.D., 2006. Disadvantages and advantages of the main theoretical concepts of civil guilt [Vady i perevahy osnovnykh teoretychnykh kontseptsii tsyvilnoi vyny]. Ûridična Ukraïna – Legal Ukraine, No. 5, pp. 54-58.
Khomenko M.M., 2013. Compensation for damage caused by state authorities, their officials and (or) officials [Vidshkoduvannia shkody, zavdanoi orhanamy derzhavnoi vlady, yikh posadovymy ta (abo) sluzhbovymy osobamy]. Abstract of Ph.D. dissertation. Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University.
Karnaukh B.P., 2014. Guilt as a condition of civil liability [Vyna yak umova tsyvilno-pravovoi vidpovidalnosti]. Kharkiv: Pravo.
Mozolin V.P., 2014. Civil liability [Grazhdansko-pravovaya otvetstvennost’]. In: Doronina N.G. (Ed.), Legal liability: modern challenges and solutions [Yuridicheskaya otvetstvennost’: sovremennye vyzovy i resheniya]. Moscow: INFRA-M. Pp. 28-33.
Braginskii M.I. and Vitrianskii V.V., 2001. Contract law. Book one. General provisions [Dogovornoe pravo. Kniga pervaya. Obshchie polozheniya]. 4th ed. Moscow: Statut.
Antimonov B.S., 1962. Grounds for contractual liability of socialist organizations [Osnovaniya dogovornoi otvetstvennosti sotsialisticheskikh organizatsii]. Moscow: Statut.
Bratus S.N., 1947. Legal entities in Soviet civil law (concept, types, state legal entities) [Yuridicheskie litsa v sovetskom grazhdanskom prave (ponyatie, vidy, gosudarstvennye yuridicheskie litsa)]. Moscow: Yuridicheskoe izdatel’stvo Ministerstva yustitsii SSSR.
Basin Yu.G., 2003. Selected writings on civil law [Izbrannye trudy po grazhdanskomu pravu]. St. Petersburg: Yuridicheskii tsentr Press. (Ed.: Greshnikov I.P.).
Prymak V.D., 2014. Compensation for moral damage on the basis of justice, reasonableness and good faith [Vidshkoduvannia moralnoi shkody na zasadakh spravedlyvosti, rozumnosti ta dobrosovisnosti]. Kyiv: Yurinkom Inter.
Amosov S.S., 2001. Actual problems of the mechanism of civil liability of legal entities [Aktual’nye problemy mekhanizma grazhdansko-pravovoi otvetstvennosti yuridicheskikh lits]. Ph.D. dissertation. Irkutsk State University.
Ioffe O.S., 1975. Law of Obligations [Obyazatel’stvennoe pravo]. Moscow: Yuridicheskaya literatura.
Puginskii B.I., 1979. Application of the fault principle in the regulation of economic activities [Primenenie printsipa viny pri regulirovanii khozyaistvennoi deyatel’nosti]. Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, No. 10, pp. 63-70.
Prymak V.D., 2008. Guilt and good faith in civil law [Vyna i dobrosovisnist u tsyvilnomu pravi]. Kyiv: Yurinkom Inter.
Plotnykov V.A., 1993. Negligence as a form of guilt in civil law [Neostorozhnost’ kak forma viny v grazhdanskom prave]. Ph.D. dissertation. M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Arkhipov S.I., 2005. Subject of law (theoretical study) [Sub’’ekt prava (teoreticheskoe issledovanie)]. D.Sc. dissertation. Ural State Law Academy.
Kozlova N.V., 2005. Legal personality of a legal entity [Pravosub’’ektnost’ yuridicheskogo litsa]. Moscow: Statut.
Em V.S., Kozlova N.V. and Selyakov N.Yu., 2009. Inextinguishable Lampada [Neugasimaya lampada]. In: Suvorov N.S., About legal entities under Roman law [Ob yuridicheskikh litsakh po rimskomu pravu]. Moscow: Statut. Pp. 3-22.
Malein N.S., 1968. Property liability in economic relations [Imushchestvennaya otvetstvennost’ v khozyaistvennykh otnosheniyakh]. Moscow: Nauka.
Emelyanov V.I., 2002. Reasonableness, conscientiousness, non-abuse of civil rights [Razumnost’, dobrosovestnost’, nezloupotreblenie grazhdanskimi pravami]. Moscow: Leks-kniga.
Gabov A.V., Gutnikov O.V. and Sinitsyn S.A. (eds), 2015. Legal entities in Russian civil law [Yuridicheskie litsa v rossiiskom grazhdanskom prave]: in 3 vols. Vol. 1. Moscow: INFRA-M.
Blek B., 2010. Legal Regulation of Responsibility of Members of Governing Bodies: Analysis of World Practice [Pravovoe regulirovanie otvetstvennosti chlenov organov upravleniya: analiz mirovoyi praktiki]. Moscow: Al’pina Pablishers.
Kulagin M.I., 2004. Selected Works on Company and Commercial Law [Izbrannye trudy po aktsionernomu i torgovomu pravu]. 2nd ed. Moscow: Statut.
Shor L.M., 1973. Improvement of contractual and legal relations in the field of logistics [Sovershenstvovanie dogovorno-pravovykh otnoshenii v sfere material’no-tekhnicheskogo snabzheniya]. Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, No. 1, pp. 43-52.
Smirnov V.T. and Sabchak A.A., 1983. The general doctrine of tort obligations in Soviet civil law [Obshchee uchenie o deliktnykh obyazatel’stvakh v sovetskom grazhdanskom prave]. Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo Leningradskogo universiteta.
Copyright (c) 2022 Yu. M. Zhornokui
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
