The Issue of Trust in Civil Law

Public life transformation, including transformation caused by digitalization processes and expansion of remote interaction capabilities, determines changes in essential features of trust and conditions for its formation and manifistation. Today, the priority task is to create an environment of trust in the digital sphere and beyond it to ensure progress and social development. Various civil law mechanisms can contribute to this, including consistent implementation of the principle of good faith, development of the institute of business reputation, formation of civil law communities, including virtual ones with a special nature of interconnections, improvement and expansion of the use of blockchain technology. Trust formation should contribute to the implementation of a generally permissive method of civil law regulation of relations, including those arising in the digital sphere. Certain difficulties are associated with the fact that the concept of trust is not disclosed in the current legislation. The category of trust in civil law is usually considered in a narrow sense in relation to cases of personal trust relations between subjects when they make fiduciary transactions, although civil law also knows the concepts of fiduciary property, fiduciary duties and responsibility. Trust between the participants of the civil turnover is assumed, but its low level entails risks associated with the choice of a counterparty. In this regard, judicial practice develops a standard of prudent behavior expected from a reasonable participant in comparable circumstances, which is taken into account in tax legal relations. In the future, civil legislation and judicial practice should follow the path of improving the mechanisms of influencing public relations, contributing to the formation of an environment of trust and protection of participants in civil turnover from unfair and illegal actions.

1. Ayusheeva IZ. Virtualnye soobshchestva: problemy opredeleniya grazhdansko-pravovogo statusa [Virtual communities: problems of determining the civil legal status]. Zakon. 2022;6:56-65. (In Russ.).

2. Ayusheeva IZ, Soyfer TV. K voprosu o pravovoy sushchnosti tsifrovoy reputatsii v sfere sharing economy [On the legal essence of digital reputation in sharing economy]. Courier of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL). 2021;11:115-125. (In Russ.).

3. Barsukova SYu. Vynuzhdennoe doverie setevogo mira [Forced trust of the networked world]. URL: http://www.civisbook.ru/files/File/Barsukova_2001_2.pdf (Accessed 05.09.2022).

4. Bogdanov EV, Bogdanova EE, Bogdanov DE. Problema fidutsiarnosti i fidutsiarnykh sdelok v grazhdanskom prave Rossii [Issue of fiduciary and fiduciary transactions in russian civil law]. Civil Law. 2017;3:20-25. (In Russ.).

5. Gilyarovsky VA. Moskva i moskvichi [Moscow and Muscovites]. Moscow: Azbuka Publ.; 2020. (In Russ.).

6. Golubtsov VG. Otsenochnye ponyatiya v rossiyskikh kodifikatsiyakh grazhdanskogo prava [Evaluation concepts in russian codifications of civil law]. Lex russica. 2019;8:37-50. (In Russ.).

7. Valyavina EYu, Eliseev IV, et al. Grazhdanskoe pravo [Civil law]. In 3 vols. Vol. 2. 4th ed. Moscow: TK Velbi, Prospect Publ.; 2005. (In Russ.).

8. Vasilevskaya LYu, editor. Bogdanova EE, Vasilevskaya LYu, Grin ES, et al. Dogovornoe pravo Rossii: reformirovanie, problemy i tendentsii razvitiya: monografiya [Contract law of Russia: reformation, problems and development trends]. Moscow: Norma: Infra-M Publ.; 2016. (In Russ.).

9. Zikun II. Konstruktsiya doveritelnogo upravleniya v grazhdanskom prave: nefidutsiarnaya fidutsiarnost [The construction of trust in civil law: nonfiduciary fiduciary contract]. Civil Law Review. 2017;3:52-102. (In Russ.).

10. Kokotov AN. Doverie. Nedoverie. Pravo [Trust. Distrust. Law]. Moscow: Norma: Infra-M Publ.; 2020. (In Russ.).

11. Sergeev AP, editor. Abramova EN, Averchenko KM, Arslanov KM. Kommentariy k Grazhdanskomu kodeksu Rossiyskoy Federatsii. Chast vtoraya: uchebno-prakticheskiy kommentariy (postateynyy) [Commentary on the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Part Two: educational and practical commentary (annotated)]. Moscow: Prospect Publ.; 2010. (In Russ.).

12. Leonova IYu. Doverie: ponyatie, vidy i funktsii [Trust: definition, types and functions]. Bulletin of the Udmurt University. 2015;25(2):34-41. (In Russ.).

13. Makhalin IN. Doktrina fidutsiarnykh obyazannostey: zashchitnitsa doveriya pod maskoy angliyskoy shpionki [The doctrine of fiduciary duties: protector of the trust under the guise of an English spy]. Vestnik ekonomicheskogo pravosudiya RF. 2020;1:152-200. (In Russ.).

14. Parfenov DI. K voprosu o doveritelnom kharaktere dogovora porucheniya [On the issue of trust character of the commission contract]. Politics and Law. 2007;8:129-135. (In Russ.).

15. Bogdanova EE, editor. Reforma obyazatelstvennogo prava Rossii: problemy i perspektivy [Reform of the law of obligations of Russia: problems and prospects]. Moscow: Prospect Publ.; 2018. (In Russ.).

16. Tikhonova ZhK. Sootnoshenie kategoriy «doverie», «vera», «uverennost v pravovoy interpretatsii» [The ratio of categories «trust», «faith», «confidence in legal interpretation»]. Eurasian Law Journal. 2020;1(140):501-503. (In Russ.).

17. Ozhegov SI. Tolkovyy slovar russkogo yazyka [Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language]. 28th ed. Moscow: Mir i obrazovanie: Onyx Publ.; 2012. (In Russ.).

18. Fukuyama F. Doverie: sotsialnye dobrodeteli i put k protsvetaniyu [Trust: Social Virtues and the Path to Prosperity]. Moscow: AST: Ermak Publ.; 2004. (In Russ.).

19. Shtompka P. Doverie — osnova obshchestva [Trust is the basis of society]. Trans. from Polish. Moscow: Logos, Publ.; 2012. (In Russ.).

20. Entsiklopedicheskiy slovar F. A. Brokgauza i I. A. Efrona [Encyclopedic dictionary of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron]. St. Petersburg: Brockhaus-Efron Publ.; 1893. 499 p.

21. Aiusheeva IZ, Soyfer TV. Formation of the Environment of Confidence in Sharing Economy: Problems of Civil Regulation in Russia. Independent Journal of Management & Production (IJM&P). 2022;13(4):536-559. June 2022. Special Edition CIMEE.

22. Botsman R. Who can you trust? How Technology Brought Us Together and Why It Might Drive Us Apart. New York: PublicAffairs; 2017.

23. Eisenstadt ShN, Roniger L. Patrons, Clients and Friends. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 1984.

24. Frenehard T. Building Digital Trust: What Does It Really Mean? URL: https://www.digitalistmag.com/finance/2019/10/29/building-digital-trust-what-does-it-really-mean-06201132/ (Accessed 30.08.2022).

25. Schwab K. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Geneva; 2016.

26. Zippellius R. Introduction to German Legal Method. Carolina Academic Press; 2008.