Romaniuk V. Statute of Limitations in Civil Law

Thesis is devoted to the definition of general regularities and peculiarities of the Statute of limitations in civil law; development of concrete proposals and recommendations to improve legal regulation of civil relationships. The thesis investigates legal nature of the Statute of limitations due to the etymology of the term ‘limitation’ and the meaning of the concept ‘claim’. It has been done delineation of concepts ‘limitation’ and ‘limitation period’. The Statute of limitations is defined as a set of independent legal facts (offense, filing a lawsuit, lapse of time) and other provisions and characteristics provided for by the law that are necessary for the legal consequence to occur. On the basis of this definition it has been made a conclusion that the limitation period is one of the main elements of the legal structure of the Statute of limitations. The research has detected the signs of limitation period as an element of the Statute of limitations: 1) it is established by the law; 2) is used by a person to do some procedural actions i.e. to seek protection in the court. The research proves that limitation periods are divided into general and special; the Statute of limitations shall not begin immediately after the end of these periods. According to these arguments the researcher has made classification of the limitation periods based on the following criteria: 1) on the basis of duration of (general and special (long-term and reduced)); 2) on the basis of source determination (legal and contractual). Keywords: statute of limitations, demand/claim, a limitation period, periods of protection of civil rights, general and special periods of the statute of limitations, suspension, interruption and renewal of the limitation periods, changing of the limitation period.