Method of civil regulation of social relations

Method of civil regulation is a set of specific means of effect on participants in civil relations that are characterized by legal equality of parties, as well as provision to the latest an opportunity of solution of these relations at their discretion with the exceptions established by civil legislation.

As absence of categorical orders to participants of civil relations to act in a certain way (an exception as civil law security (protection) relationships - obligation to compensate damage, to return the property obtained without grounds, etc.) is typical for the method of civil regulation in most cases, the latter is given an opportunity to select the type of behavior and independently regulate their relations.

This method is called dispositive method, unlike imperative method – characteristic for administrative law (public law in general).

Civil method of regulation of civil relations is a complex category, which has the following features:

1) legal equality of participants, their autonomy and independence, which means that participants of relevant legal relations have legally equal opportunities to acquire and exercise civil rights and create and perform civil duties, and they are not in any legal dependence between each other (authoritative subordination);

2) optionality in choice of behavior of members of civil relations, this means that parties can act initiatively, freely, in their own discretion, based on their own interests and purposes;

3) judicial dispute settlement, which means that they are able to settle any disagreement between members of civil relationships in court;

4) property-compensational nature of measures of enforcement effect on the offender, which means that the participant of legal relations that is not performing his duties violates the rights of other participants of civil relations or creates barrier as to their proper implementation, use of means of protection, not beneficial in terms of property for the offender, which are mainly of property character, which is directed to restoring of the violated right, legally protected interest or welfare of the victim party.

Thus, the method is a defining category, meaning that even if relations are proprietary by their content, but based on administrative or other authoritative subordination of one party to the other, for example, financial, tax, budget, etc. they are not related to the subject of civil regulation (Article 1 (2) of the CC of Ukraine).

Describing the civil method of legal regulation, however, we cannot ignore possibility of existence of imperative element in it (in liabilities arising from injury, imperative order is an order for compensation of such damage, grounds, conditions and procedure of their recovery).