Diomkina G. Legal Regulation in the Sphere of Documents Legalization: Theoretical and Legal Aspect

The thesis is devoted to a complex investigation of the evolution of the legal procedure of documents legalization for validity abroad. The research has been carried out taking into account the history of the formation and the contemporary stage of national and international law. On the basis of the analysis of major theoretical and methodological approaches to the understanding of documents legalization procedure the author identifies the key features of documents legalization for validity abroad and provides the definition of this kind of legalization. Research results prove the scientific validity of including of documents legalization for validity abroad to the administrative services system. The study considers the basic stages of the formation of the documents legalization institute in Ukraine as well as the history of the international law, including bilateral and multilateral agreements, which regulate the procedure of documents legalization in the course of international documents circulation. The comparative analysis allowed proposing several directions of Ukrainian legislation harmonization with applicable international legal standards in the field of documents legalization for validity abroad. In the course of the analysis the contents of all stages of the singled out types of documents legalization procedures have been systematically disclosed (consular legalization and Apostille marking). Relying on the analysis of the peculiarities of documents legalization for validity abroad in various types of civil proceedings with foreign element the author identifies the main problems of legal implementation of documents legalization procedure and formulates recommendations on changes and amendments in existing legislation.