Claims for recognition of a registered contract as terminated and the right of obligation as absent

Introduction: claims for recognition of a registered contract as terminated and the right of obligation as absent combine the following features: (1) they are declaratory; (2) belong to the category of negative ones; (3) are not explicitly stated in the law; (4) are recognized by judicial practice; (5) are aimed solely at eliminating legal uncertainty. The unity of features determines the need to analyze these types of claims within a single study. Purpose: to establish the reasons for the occurrence in practice of claims for recognition of a registered contract as terminated and the right of obligation as absent. Methods: general scientific (dialectical) method of cognition of scientific concepts of private law; special scientific methods of cognition: formal-legal method, historical-legal method, method of comparative legal studies, forecasting. Results: the transition of the claim for recognition of the right of obligation as absent to the category of remedies directly referred to in acts of official interpretation of law entails great risks. As soon as the emerging practice is recorded in an act of interpretation, the following will happen. Firstly, the number of cases of its use in practice will be likely to increase, which will entail an increased burden on courts. Secondly, there will appear the prerequisites for the full formal legalization of the phenomenon, as has already happened with the recognition of a contract as not concluded and the recognition of the right to a thing as absent. Should there be no registration actions in the Russian legal system, there would not be so many claims of a negative legal nature recognized by practice, including the claim for the recognition of a registered contract as terminated. Protective legal rules aimed at regulating claim-based relations that have the purpose of ensuring a more stable existence of regulatory relations are often formalized in the law, being widely applied in practice by the time changes are introduced into the law.