Multilateral Agreements in Russian Civil Law: Problems of Theory and Practice

The paper examines multilateral agreements in modern civil law. It identifies three characteristic features of multilateral agreements: the number of parties to the agreement; a common goal shared by all parties; and an identical scope of rights and obligations for each party. Multilateral agreements are classified on various grounds, including the presence or absence of a common goal, the possibility of succession of parties, form, and other criteria. Noting that the concept of a multilateral transaction, as formulated in paragraph 3 of Article 154 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, no longer corresponds to the legal nature of all multilateral agreements, the paper proposes several solutions. The first proposal is to reformulate paragraph 3 of Article 154 by introducing the following definition: a multilateral agreement is an agreement concluded between three or more persons for the establishment, modification or termination of civil rights and obligations. The second proposal is to introduce, alongside the term «multilateral agreement», the distinct term «agreements with an indefinite number of parties». The third and preferred solution is to adopt a generic concept of «multilateral agreement» encompassing two species — closed and open multilateral agreements. The introduction of a generic concept together with specific concepts reflecting the distinguishing features of different types of multilateral agreements will accommodate their diversity and assist in resolving contested questions concerning the application of particular legal rules to specific categories of such agreements.

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