DRAFT CIVIL CODE OF UKRAINE: A NEW MODEL OF PRIVATE LAW CODIFICATION

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the Draft Civil Code of Ukraine as a conceptually new model of private law codification. It is argued that the proposed recodification goes beyond the revision of individual civil law institutions and is aimed at creating a single system-forming act of private law adapted to the digitalisation of social relations, the development of artificial intelligence, Ukraine’s European integration and the needs of postwar recovery. The study identifies the principal prerequisites for the preparation of the Draft Civil Code, including the transformation of private law relations, the rapid development of digital technologies, the evolution of judicial practice, the repeal of the Commercial Code of Ukraine and the emergence of prerequisites for establishing a unified civil-law model of regulation of private relations. Particular attention is paid to the conceptual transformation of the philosophy of codification, which is manifested in the strengthening of a principle-centred model of private law, the expansion of private autonomy, the reconsideration of the system of sources of private-law regulation and a substantial extension of the structure of the Civil Code. The incorporation of family law, private international law and a separate book devoted to the publicity of civil rights into the structure of the Code is analysed. The article systematises and critically assesses the principal innovations contained in all nine books of the Draft Civil Code. It examines the reform of the legal status of natural and legal persons, corporate relations and the system of objects of private rights; the emergence of digital things and digital and information rights; the modernisation of property law, including usufruct, the right of expectation and a new system of security rights in rem. New approaches to intellectual property law are considered, with particular emphasis on the legal regime of results generated by artificial intelligence systems. The transformation of the law of obligations is analysed through pre-contractual liability, protection of the weaker party, automated contracting, new remedies and the preventive orientation of tort law. Particular attention is also paid to the modernisation of family and inheritance law, assisted reproductive technologies, digital inheritance and postmortem reproductive dispositions. The study evaluates the significance of the closest-connection principle and expanded party autonomy in private international law, as well as the new system of publicity, opposability, priority and reliance on public registers. It is concluded that the Draft Civil Code seeks to establish a Private Law Code for the digital society. Its principal advantage lies in the comprehensive and integrated character of the proposed regulation, while its principal challenge consists in ensuring internal coherence and legal certainty. The article emphasises the need to clearly delimit new legal constructions, define the limits of judicial discretion, ensure consistency between the different books of the Code, synchronise the Code with special legislation and provide detailed transitional regulation. The success of the recodification should therefore be assessed primarily by the ability of the new Code to combine private autonomy, flexibility and technological development with predictability, coherence and stability of private-law relations.