The subject of civil law is public relations, implemented in respect of tangible or intangible benefits. Lawyers have developed many classifications of social ties, divided all types into groups. Especially common here is the division into absolute and relative legal relations. What each of these species means will be described in our article.
Civil Relations
Civil law refers to the totality of legal rules governing property relations in any of its manifestations. Civil relations are built on the principle of legal equality. The subjects of law are individuals and legal entities that interconnect to satisfy their own spiritual and material needs.
The subject of civil law is public relations - the relationship between organizations, government bodies, local governments and ordinary citizens. Civil relations are divided into property and non-property. The former are complicated by the presence of property in them. It reflects the unity of the economic basis and the legal superstructure. Moreover, their interaction occurs. Relations of a non-property nature are related to intellectual property.
Features of civil relations
The vast majority of lawyers argue that the main feature of civil law relations is the legal equality of all entities. That is why the relationship between persons is established, as a rule, on a voluntary basis.
A special place in the civil law system is occupied by the contract. This is a legally executed document securing this or that relationship. It is the agreement that secures the rights, duties and responsibilities of subjects of legal relations. According to the agreement, all parties must be equal and legally independent from each other. No subject can command or order anything to the other side. This is indicated by the general dispositiveness of most civil norms. Many provisions in the legal branch under consideration are permissible, but not binding or prohibiting. However, this only applies to the formation of relations. So, if the parties enter into an agreement between themselves, obligations will immediately appear.
The content of civil relations
Before describing the absolute and relative legal relations, it is necessary to talk a little more about the structure of the social relationships under consideration. So, the behavior of participants in civil relations is determined by the presence of certain rights and obligations.
Under the law of the subject of relations is meant a legally secured measure of possible human behavior. This means that the subject may or may not carry out certain acts. A subject obligation is a legally determined measure of the necessary behavior. Here prevail norms that are imperative (binding or prohibitive) in nature. Subjective rights and obligations form the legal form of civil relations.
Legal regulation of individual public relations contributes to the constant change in their legal form. The content of social relationships is streamlined and systematized. As a result, relations between entities take on a legal character.
Dialectical unity of form and content
Property relations in civil law cannot be fully attributed to a legal superstructure or legal basis. Both of these categories represent dialectical unity. This means that the interaction of the basis and the superstructure leads to a certain contradiction, which contributes, in turn, to the development of civil property relations.
The form of relations, which includes the obligations and rights of entities, is in the field of legal superstructure. The interaction of the subjects of law, forming the content, refers to the economic basis.
The situation is different with personal non-property relations. Here the form is outside the economic basis. This means, in turn, that civil non-property relations are wholly related to the superstructure.
Relative legal relations in civil law
Depending on the form of relations between the subjects, all civil relations are divided into absolute and relative. Legal relations of a relative nature are characterized by the presence of a strictly defined number of persons. Moreover, this can be just one person. It is only important that each participant in the relationship be registered as such.
Thus, relative relationships depend on the structure of intersubjective communication. In the case under consideration, it is clearly defined. Every element of this structure should be visible - in this case, each subject.
Relative Relationship Examples
There are quite a few examples of relative legal relations: for example, these are relations between participants in shared ownership. The developer records in their documents the exact number of people with whom he will enter into an agreement. For example, in one house under construction, he plans to settle several hundred people. Data on each subject of legal relations are entered into a special database. As a result of this, it can be established that the builder has formed a relative legal relationship with a strictly defined subject composition.
A second, even simpler example is the purchase-sale relationship. Here you can track the exact number of entities: seller and buyer. Any third or unknown persons are absent here. Moreover, one should not think that relative legal relations are characteristic only of civil property law. A limited number of entities may also be associated with intellectual property. For example, one person acquires copyright from the other. Another example is the redemption of a patent by a legal entity from an inventor - an individual, that is, a citizen. In all these cases, there is a clearly defined subject composition. This is a distinctive feature of relative legal relations. And what can you tell about the absolute legal relationship? How do they differ from relative ones, and what is characteristic of them? About it further.
Absolute legal relations in civil law
As already mentioned, the division into absolute and relative legal relations in the civil legal industry depends on the structure and form of intersubjective communication. In relative legal relations, such a relationship is clearly defined: you can trace each of its elements, which are the actors themselves. In absolute legal relations, the opposite is true: the intersubjective relationship here is very blurred, which is why it is not possible to determine the persons involved in the relationship.
Thus, a distinctive feature of absolute legal relations is the presence of an indefinite circle of obligated persons. Moreover, this whole circle must confront one specific person, who in this case will be authorized. So, what kind of scheme is looming here and how can it be illustrated with examples from life? We will try to answer further.
Absolute Legal Relationship Examples
The type of civil relations under consideration is characterized by the fact that a single authorized person is opposed by many obliged entities, which, moreover, are legally passive. Here is a simple example: the author who created the cultural work registered himself as the owner of the created product. Automatically, all other persons have acquired the obligation not to infringe copyright, that is, property rights.
It is also worthwhile to give an example of a proprietary absolute legal relationship. Each of us concludes it daily, although he does not notice it. It is about interactions between government bodies. Each authority, speaking on behalf of the people and at the same time acting for the people, concludes property contracts, acquires something, concludes transactions and implements other property relations. Since state power is formed by Russian citizens, it turns out that the authorities as authorized persons act in the interests of an unlimited circle of people.
How true is the division into intellectual and material, absolute and relative legal relations? The answer to this question will be received further.
Problems of differentiation of civil relations
Some legal scholars, especially individual Soviet lawyers, opposed the division of civil relations into relative and absolute. In their opinion, legal relations should be specific, and the fact that they have an unlimited circle of people is unacceptable. It would seem like this is even possible? Hundreds of agreements are concluded daily with vague subject groups. However, the researchers insist that in almost every unlimited group you can find one specific person who concludes the agreement. If such a person cannot be found, then we are not talking about any relationship at all.
Such an argument is completely untenable. Persons concluding that absolute relations cannot be regarded as civil are deeply mistaken. The thing is that in any legal relations between people, the action of an authorized person is crucial. The role of the other party, obligated persons, is only to not interfere with the authorized entity to exercise its powers. From this we can draw a simple conclusion: in all types of absolute legal relations, an obligation is assigned to each person.
Relationship differences
What is the practical distinction between absolute and relative relations in the field of civil law? Lawyers talk about violations and the subsequent imposition of sanctions. So, if absolute rights are violated, then any violator will be held responsible. In the case of a violation of the relative right, a strictly defined person will respond - the subject whose duties include the satisfaction of the interests of the authorized person with his actions. Moreover, in order to protect absolute and relative relations in civil law, two independent blocs have been formed.
The existing differentiation and its legal justification should be accepted. Of course, in the field of civil law there are many different problems. However, they do not relate to the topic under consideration.
General regulatory relations
Along with the relative and absolute legal relations of ownership, there are also relations of a general regulatory nature. In this case, absolutely all entities act as bearers of rights or obligations. Moreover, the relations themselves are somewhat individualized.
A simple example can be given with legal capacity. Upon reaching 18 years, a person in Russia becomes full-fledged, that is, competent. It acquires a number of political and socio-economic rights. Thus, every adult citizen in the country is authorized.This is the most striking example of relations with a general regulatory nature in the field of civil law.