L.V. SHCHENNIKOVA,

Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Civil Law 

of the Kuban State University 

The focus of the author is one of the oldest legal institutions – the institute of limitation of actions. The author turns to its sources, revealing the roots that confirm close interaction in the legal regulation of civil and civil procedural law. A significant place in the article is devoted to theoretical issues of limitation of actions, namely: its social basis, criteria for establishing duration, connection with subjective civil law. Here the author relies on the works of the classics of Russian civil doctrine – the works of G.F. Shershenevich, D.I. Meyer, A.M. Gulyaev, A.I. Kranihfeld, S.V. Pakhman, I.B. Novitsky, B.B. Сherepahin. The author’s analysis is based on the comparison of domestic civil law standards with their foreign counterparts, knowledge of which is necessary to improve the current legislation on the limitation period. The author also confirms her conclusions with the materials of modern judicial practice. The article proves that the name of extinguishing prescription will be more accurate for the institute under study. Since the claim is a category of civil procedural law, accordingly, the material and legal institution should not be designated by a term having a different industry affiliation. The statute of limitations in the author’s concept extinguishes the validity of the power to compulsory defense, which is part of the structure of subjective civil law, while preserving the latter’s effect. The article formulates the author’s vision of the goals of the statute of limitations, reveals the trends in the development of the duration of different types of terms, taking into account their necessary differentiation. The author calls for the unification of efforts of representatives of the sciences of civil and civil procedural law in investigating the problems of extinguishing prescription, the suit and the right to its implementation. 

Keywords: civil law; civil procedural law; limitation period; legal action; right to legal action; civil legislation; judicial practice; civil doctrine.