Types of Claims Under Russian Civil Law

The present research work is devoted to the phenomenon of ‘competition’ between certain claims in Russian civil law. The object of the study is the situation in civil law, when the same legal facts serve as the basis for various proprietary and contract law foundations for the protection of property rights. On the basis of such a common legal effect for several requirements as the binding of one person to return an object, which is unjustly in his possession, to another person (for example, to its owner or its former owner), three claims are singled out: (i) rei vindicatio, (ii) restitution and (iii) unjust enrichment. Each claim is regarded in the corresponding chapter of the work (Chapters I-III) under the same pattern: first the definition of the claim is given, then the evolution of the notions about it – from the concepts of Roman law up to its understanding by the modern law – is described and then the content of the contents of the claims and the conditions under which it is satisfied. The final chapter examines their relationship with a special emphasis on the admissibility or impossibility of competition (i.e. choice) between them. The work suggests that rei vindicatio, restitution and unjust enrichment are different and separate ways of protecting civil rights, which are different in nature, and are therefore applied in different situations. There should be no competition between them. However, due to its more universal character, unjust enrichment can be used subsidiarily in relation to the rei vindicatio and restitution claims. It is concluded that the proper choice of a remedy does not depend on the discretion of a person, whose rights to property were violated, but rather on the nature of the violated right.