Correlation of Concepts of Money and Cash Equivalents in Civil Law

Money and other negotiable instruments have always been among the fundamental economic institutes. In recent years the development of informational technologies has caused the appearance of new and novel forms of their existence. Money’s functioning is inextricably entwined with governmental interfer-ence and thus regulatory control. Money turnover, recognized and supported by the government is bound to have a legal framework to it. The basis of legal regulation is, in its turn, the juridical terminology. Modern Russian legislation utilizes the notions of “money” and “cash equivalents” but does not define them, thus impeding their consistent interpretation and usage. The majority of the existing issues are associated with the undefined status of cash equivalents in the Russian civil law. In its current state, the only way cash equivalents are directly addressed in Russian law is by prohibiting their emission. The main aim of the research was to characterize specificity of money and cash equivalents as objects of civil rights, by examining both general provisions and peculiarities of regulation of their specific categories. The research is based upon classical works of civil law scholars as well as works of modern authors both in jurisprudence and related branches of science; both national and foreign practices are studied. As the result, the following definitions are proposed: Money is a financial instrument, functioning as a standard of value and a medium of circulation and wealth accumulation, which is recognized as a legal tender for payment of public and private debts by the government. Cash equivalents are low liquid assets, which are partially capable of performing money’s functions and, for certain reasons, used within certain groups of economic agents for payments settlement instead of the legal currency.