Comparative legal analysis of will and inheritance contract as a basis of inheritance under civil law

Purpose of the study is to conducting a comparative legal analysis of the substitute of the will and the novels of civil law - the inheritance contract, as grounds for inheritance under civil law. We used the formal legal, comparative legal, logical methods. The author analyzes the procedure for the adoption and entry into force of the rules on the inheritance contract, their common and distinctive features, which make it possible to distinguish between adjacent legal phenomena. Introduction into scientific circulation of the criteria for delimiting two similar legal subinstitutions of inheritance la - will and inheritance contract as grounds for inheritance under civil law.