The notion of the balance of interests and its place in Russian civil law

Introduction: the article is dedicated to the development of general provisions of the notion of balance of interests in civil law. Essentiality of the maintenance of the balance of interests is stated by the Constitutional Court of RF and European Court of Human Rights. Purpose: there is no concept of the balance of interests in the civil law and relevant legislation. Yet this notion is used in law enforcement. Therefore this research is currently important. Methods: a methodological basis of this study is the dialectical method and a set of universal methods of scientific knowledge (system research methods, structural-functional analysis, methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction) and private-scientific methods of legal research: historical and legal, formal and legal comparative legal, technical and legal, legal modelling. Results: the author concludes that the balance of interests is such a state of a legal relation, in which rights and duties of its parties are proportional and they have equal capacities for realizing their legal interests. Therefore its characteristics are: proportionality in stating rights and duties of legal entities, execution and protection of their rights; equal capacities of legal entities for realizing their legal interests; balance of interests as an attribute of a legal relation, dynamism. It is reasoned that the balance of interests is a general legal principle which is realized also as a principle of civil law. The said principle particularizes other principles of civil law.