Expiry of the period of limitation as the grounds for the release of liability

The article is devoted to a complex analysis of the mostly spread grounds for the release of liability - to the expiry of the period of limitation. Having studied the expiry-based liability release institution in the criminal law, the author comes to a conclusion that the approach accepted within the criminal law is inadmissible for the civil law. In the article, the principle types of the limitation periods are researched - general and special. With this the author includes the extended periods and the reduced periods into the special limitation period group. Besides, the author studies the conditions of the limitation period use for which the following Russian Federation Civil Code norm is applied: the limitation period could be applied by the court based on the party of the argue request made before the court decision is taken. The parties of the argue are the complainant and the defendant. Thus, the limitation period expiration can be claimed either by the complainant or the defendant. In both cases the court rejects the claim. If the limitation period expiration is claimed by the defendant (the offender) and the court rejects the claim, this situation corresponds to the legal liability principles. And if the limitation expiration period is claimed by the complainant, and the defendant does not agree with these grounds for the claim rejection, considering for example that he did not commit the offence or there are reasons for him to escape liability. In this case the court rejects the claim in any case independently on the defendant disagreement. The author thinks that if the complainant claims for the limitation period expiration and the defendant does not agree with this, the latter should be given the right to examine the case on its merits and to reject the claim on exonerative grounds. In such a situation, if the court finds the grounds for his bringing to liability, the case is to be sustained. The conclusion is made that setting a general limitation period in law is explained by the necessity to provide for the stable and stipulated relations between the participants of the civil sphere.