The civil law principle of cooperation in the continental law doctrine: extension beyond contractual legal relations

Introduction: the article analyzes the possibility of the civil law principle of cooperation being implemented in various types of relations under civil law. Traditionally, the cooperation principle is considered in both Russian and foreign literature as the principle of fulfillment of a contractual obligation or as a group of additional obligations imposed on the parties to the contract and arising from the good faith principle. A more detailed consideration of the idea if cooperation allows us to draw a conclusion about the feasibility of this principle in other types of relations under civil law. Purpose: to justify the possibility of the cooperation principle being implemented in civil law relations other than contractual relations, namely in property legal relations, pre-contractual legal relations, and obligations from causing harm (protective legal relations). Methods: general scientific dialectical method; special scientific methods such as the method of comparative law, the technical method, the legal-dogmatic method, the historicallegal method. Results: analysis of legal regulation of such relative legal relations as contractual, pre-contractual, and protective, as well as property legal relations as a form of absolute legal relations, has shown that the cooperation principle is successfully implemented in these types of legal relations. Therefore, it is possible to consider this principle to pertain to the branch of civil law as a whole. Conclusions: the cooperation principle performs two functions: first, based on this principle, it is possible to achieve the purpose of civil law relations in a more effective way; second, this principle serves as a mechanism to overcome unforeseen circumstances that prevent the purpose of legal relations from being achieved. These functions are carried out in all the types of legal relations considered: in contractual relations - when there arise obstacles to the performance of a contract not specified in the contractual provisions; in pre-contractual relations - when there arise obstacles to achieving the purpose of negotiations (i.e. conclusion of a civil law contract); in protective relations - when there is a risk of an increase in harm or a risk of inability to fully reimburse damage in a timely manner; in property relations - when there occurs an accidental loss of a thing by the rightsholder.