13.2 General problems of forensic psychiatric examinations in civil proceedings

In accordance with Art. 17 GK from the moment of birth, every citizen has legal capacity, which ends with his death. The Civil Code establishes equal legal capacity for all citizens. This means that all citizens have the equal opportunity to have civil rights and bear responsibilities regardless of their age, mental or physical condition, as well as the ability to independently (through their actions) acquire subjective rights and exercise them. The concept of legal capacity is determined by art. 18 of the Civil Code, in accordance with which citizens can own property and bequeath it, engage in entrepreneurial and other activities not prohibited by law, perform any transactions that do not contradict the law and participate in obligations. At the same time, the content of civil capacity does not constitute rights themselves, but only the possibility of having them.

The way to exercise legal capacity is capacity. Article 21 of the Civil Code defines capacity as “the ability of a citizen to acquire and exercise civil rights by his actions, to create civil duties for himself and to fulfill them”.

To have legal capacity means to personally perform various legal transactions — to make and execute transactions, to acquire ownership of property, to own and dispose of it, to be responsible for the destruction or damage of another's property, to enter into agreements, etc.

The most essential elements of the content of citizens' legal capacity is the possibility of independent conclusion of transactions (bargaining capacity) and the ability to bear independent property liability (delict ability). GK as an element of capacity of a citizen also highlighted the possibility of a citizen to engage in business activities (Art. 23 GK). The peculiarity of a citizen’s business activity is the need for the state registration of a citizen as an individual entrepreneur, on the one hand, and the establishment of insolvency (bankruptcy) rules of an individual entrepreneur in law - on the other hand (Article 25 of the Civil Code).

The selection of individual elements of capacity has no practical significance. The theoretical significance of such categories as bargaining and delictual capacity, the right to individual entrepreneurship are associated with a separate analysis of the issues of concluding transactions and responsibility. Fragmentation of capacity to separate the possibility of committing any action is unjustified.

Capacity, on the one hand, ensures the freedom and active participation of the individual in the exercise of his property rights, and on the other hand, is a means of protecting the rights and interests of participants in civil turnover, as a capable citizen will violate civil rights if he violates the other person’s property and personal property rights. - legal liability to him.

The content of citizens' capacity is closely related to the content of their legal capacity. If the content of legal capacity is the nature and duties that an individual can have, then the content of legal capacity is characterized by the ability of the person to these duties and rights to acquire and exercise their own actions.

Capacity as a possibility presented by law to a citizen to exercise his legal capacity by his own actions cannot be the same for all. It has certain limitations associated with various factors, the main of which are:

- age;

- mental disorders;

- abuse of alcohol and drugs.

In contrast to the legal capacity, capacity to act is connected with the performance of a voluntary action by a citizen, which implies the attainment of a certain level of mental maturity. Article 60 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation as a criterion for a citizen to attain the possibility of acquiring rights for himself by his own actions and to bear obligations provides for age.

Until the age of full legal capacity, which is granted to a citizen after he reaches the age of 18, the law provides an opportunity for a minor to gradually learn to commit independent volitional actions. For this purpose, certain age stages are foreseen, with the onset of which the minor is provided with broader elements of legal capacity: the possibility of making deals and the possibility of independent property responsibility.

Minors (minors) who have not reached the age of 14 do not have legal capacity, which will come only after the age of 18, and therefore do not have the opportunity to exercise their full legal capacity. All transactions on their behalf are made by their parents, guardians or adoptive parents.

At the same time, the law provided for minors, depending on their age, the possibility of making certain transactions. At the age of six to 14 years, minors have the right to independently perform small household transactions; transactions aimed at obtaining benefits free of charge that do not require notarization or state registration; transactions on disposal of funds provided by a legal representative or, with his consent, by a third party for a specific purpose or for free disposal (clause 2 of article 28 of the Civil Code).

Despite possessing the possibility of making certain transactions, juvenile, not being capable, do not bear independent responsibility. Responsibility for their actions, including transactions that they have the right to make independently, is fully borne by their parents, adoptive parents or guardians. They are also responsible for the harm caused by minors.

Upon reaching the age of 14 up to the age of full legal capacity, a minor is endowed with incomplete or partial legal capacity (Art. 26 of the Civil Code). It is characterized by the fact that a minor citizen is recognized the right to acquire and exercise not the weight of the right, but only some that are expressly provided by law: to make any transactions independently, subject to the written consent of its legal representatives; independently and without the consent of legal representatives to dispose of their own earnings, scholarship or other income; to exercise the rights of the author of works of science, literature or art, invention or other legally protected result of his intellectual activity; make contributions to credit institutions and dispose of them, as well as upon reaching 16 years of age be a member of cooperatives (Article 26 of the Civil Code).

In case of unreasonable disposal of a minor by law, legal representatives or guardianship bodies have the right to intervene and apply to the court for limiting or even depriving a minor of the right to independently manage his earnings or scholarship.

It is possible and the opposite situation, when the age of occurrence of capacity decreases. The law allows two possibilities for the full legal capacity of a citizen to reach the 18th anniversary:

- upon entering into marriage by a person under the age of 18, if the age of marriage was reduced to him in accordance with the law;

- during emancipation (art. 27 of the Civil Code).

Emancipation is the announcement of a minor who has reached the age of 16 and is fully capable if he works under an employment contract or is engaged in business activities with the consent of his parents. These actions serve as sufficient evidence that a minor is able to independently decide on property or other civil matters, i.e. reached the level of maturity, usually occurring at the age of majority.

Emancipation is accomplished by decision of the guardianship and trusteeship bodies with the consent of both parents or the court, if the parents or one of them disagree. The goal of emancipation is to give the minor full civil status. However, certain rights and obligations arise only after a certain age has been reached, such as, for example, the right to acquire firearms. In accordance with paragraph 16 of the Resolution of the Plenums of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of July 1, 1996 No. 6/8, an emancipated minor enjoys full civil rights and duties (including independently responsible for the duties arising from causing harm) with the exception of those rights and obligations for the acquisition of which federal law establishes the age limit.

The Code of Civil Procedure determines the legal status of citizens entering into a vehicle or other civil law relations, civil procedural legal capacity (Article 36 of the Code of Civil Procedure) and civil procedure capacity (Article 37 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Civil procedural legal capacity implies the ability to have civil procedural rights and obligations and is equally recognized for all citizens. Civil procedural capacity belongs to citizens who have reached the age of majority, and is defined as the ability to exercise their rights and obligations and entrust the case to a legal representative. Any person who is not recognized as incapable in the manner prescribed by law cannot be restricted in procedural rights, has the right to file lawsuits in the courts and defend their interests in court. Thus, civil procedural capacity is an integral part or one of the manifestations of civil capacity.