Chief editor’s column
Interview of the issue
Topic of the issue
R.E. Ryabyi, V.D. Gorbachev Notary as a Public Institution In the article, the authors describe the history of the formation
of the notary institution in the Russian legal system, identifying
characteristic national features. The authors note that notaries
and the notary system in Russia have traditionally been under the
control of state bodies, performing an important public function of
ensuring the stability of civil turnover and protecting the rights of
citizens. Now, in the context of the private notary system that has
formed in Russia over the past thirty years, the state actually has no
instruments of control over the activities of notaries, despite the fact
that the public significance of their activities remains. This situation
requires reforming the legislation on notaries.
Keywords:
notary, state control, civil servants
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I.G. Renz, V.V. Yarkov The Russian Notary System at a Crossroads: quo vadis? The article is based on discussions that have taken place over the
past year regarding the next phase of reform of Russian notaries.
The main points of discussion regarding the most significant
features of modern notaries are revealed, including: the public legal
status of notaries, the principles of proactive notary assistance and
self-funding, competition with other legal professionals, and the
expansion of notarial competence.
Keywords:
notary, the public legal status of a notary, the principle of an active notary, the expansion of the competence of the notary, selffinancing and self-management of the notary
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V.A. Belov We Need Such a Notary: A) We Need It; B) We Don’t Need It. C) I Find It Difficult to Answer (Please Underline) In a categorical, sometimes harsh and provocative way, the author of
the article argues that the Russian notary in its modern form is not
necessary — all its functions can easily be distributed among private
and public officials, as well as State and municipal authorities. The
author believes that this state of affairs is not rooted in any particular
shortcomings of current legislation, but has deep substantive and
legal roots, the main one among them being a fundamentally incorrect
understanding of the essence of notaries and notarial activities.
Keywords:
notary, notaries, notarial acts; private law, transactions, legal facts, rights, obligations
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V.V. Argunov What Should Notaries Be Like in Russia? Free, State, Departmental? Version-2025 Over the thirty years of the existence of the „free“ notary profession
in Russia, both positive and negative experience of its functioning
has been accumulated. The interaction of the notary profession with
the executive authorities, the judicial system — on the one hand, as
well as with the business community and persons seeking notarial assistance — on the other, requires fine-tuning. The author critically
evaluates the initiative to develop and adopt the Federal Law „On
Notaries and Notarial Activity“, updated in 2024–2025. The foundation
of legal regulation laid in 1993 makes it possible today, with minimal
investment, to harmonise the interests of the state, notaries,
entrepreneurs and citizens through some additions and amendments
to the Fundamentals of Legislation of the Russian Federation on
Notaries of 1993. The development of the draft law „On Notaries
and Notarial Activity“, which has dragged on for 15 years, confirms
that there are no objective prerequisites for a radical reform of the
notary profession. Nevertheless, the following is required: changes in
the legal regulation of the status and powers of the Federal Notary
Chamber; clarification of the legal regime of the Unified Information
System of Notaries, notary registers and their integration into the
system of state public registers; development of a set of rules on social
support for notaries: pension provision, a system of compensation for
the provision of legal assistance to privileged categories of persons,
clarification of the financial liability of notaries depending on the
notarial act performed. Finally, the issue of a notarial monopoly and
the long-outdated legal regulation of the system of actions equivalent
to notarial ones are awaiting their solution.
Notaries and notarial activity as part of voluntary jurisdiction could
be brought closer to the judicial system and civil proceedings
organisationally and functionally.
Defending the idea of a non-state notary, the author believes that the
issue of a specialised notary should be raised again, proposing the
introduction of a corporate notary.
Keywords:
notary office, notary activity, management and control of notaries, voluntary jurisdiction, reform of the notary profession
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O.V. Zaytsev Problems of Reforming the Notary System in Russia The article analyses the most significant provisions of the draft
federal law „On Notaries and Notarial activities», which are related to
the expansion of the powers of the competent authorities in terms of
state control over the activities of notaries. The author substantiates
the redundancy of such a mechanism of state control of their
activities. The argument is based on the provisions of the Law on
Self-Regulatory Organisations, to which notary chambers are quite
similar in nature. The question is raised about the need to correlate
the degree of control over the activities of notaries and the bearing of
financial responsibility for damage caused as a result of notarial acts.
Keywords:
notary reform, control of notary activities, responsibility, selfregulation
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E.A. Borisova Guarantees of Notary Independence The independence of the notary is a basic principle of his work. The
notary is not included in the hierarchy of officials (civil servants). In
his work he is subordinate to the Constitution, the Fundamentals of the
Legislation on Notaries and legal acts adopted in accordance with them.
The law provides guarantees of the principle of independence, among
which are self-organisation and self-governance, self-financing, and
control of the notary’s activities. The main role in ensuring guarantees
of notary independence belongs to the notarial chambers and the
Federal Chamber of Notaries, which, in cooperation with the bodies
of the Ministry of Justice, jointly resolve notarial organisational and
legal issues, ensuring a balance between the powers of the State and
the notary. The existing balance may be disturbed by the adoption of
the draft law on notary. Strengthening of the state regulation of the
institution of notary cannot but affect the independence of the notary.
Whether such changes are necessary, whether the existing legislative
regulation is sufficient for effective notarial activity — the questions,
answers to which are in the proposed article.
Keywords:
notary independence, self-organization, self-governance, selffinancing, control, notarial activity, interaction
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E.A. Abrosimova Notary Chamber Legal Status: Scope of Regulation The article examines the legal nature and functions of notary
chambers, analyses the main functions of the Federal Chamber of
Notaries and regional chambers that have a significant impact on
notarial activity in particular regions. Analysis of the legal status of
the notary chamber allows us to shed light on many controversial
issues that require attention from both the scientific community
and practicing notaries who unite in these organisations. The article
attempts to formulate conclusions on the noncommercial legal
status, general functional characteristics of the activities of notary
chambers, and also to start a scientific discussion on the mandatory
membership of notaries in notary chambers based on the study
of the provisions of the current legislation on notaries. The article
analyses the provisions of the draft federal law „On Notaries and
Notarial Activities in the Russian Federation“ regarding the status
and powers of notary chambers.
Keywords:
notary chamber, Federal Chamber of Notaries, Fundamentals of Legislation on Notaries, noncommercial organisation (NGO), selfregulatory organisation, NGO income-generating activity
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Iu.S. Povarov The Importance of Notarial Activity for Ensuring the Reliability of Data in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities The article reveals the significant role of a notary in ensuring the
reliability of information contained in the Unified State Register of
Legal Entities when performing (mandatory or optional) individual
notarial actions; special attention is paid to the problem of applying
legal provisions regarding the certification of the election of the
director general of a company (the actions of a notary when reelecting
a director, the need to take into account the opinion of the
elected person when making an entry into the register, etc.).
Keywords:
reliability of the register data, applicant during state registration, notarial certification of a transaction, notarial certification of a decision of a legal entity’s body, certification of the authenticity of the applicant’s signature
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I.I. Karandashov, E.M. Kurochkina The Powers of Attorney with the Certificates Made by a Notary Public: to Accept or Not to Accept? One of the issues that Russian notaries face is whether to accept
foreign powers of attorney where signatures have been attested by
a notary public. The authors come to the conclusion that in order to resolve the issue of the law to which a form of a power of attorney
is subject, subpara. 1 and 2 para. of 1 Art. 1209 of the Civil Code
shall be applied, even if it has been issued for the performance of
a transaction with real estate located in the territory of the Russian
Federation; in this case para. 4 Art. 1209 shall not be applied.
Accordingly, the powers of attorney, including those for transactions
with real estate located in the territory of the Russian Federation, the
signatures on which have been certified by a public notary, should
be accepted by Russian notaries in absence of any obvious defects
in their forms and if in their forms they comply with the law of one
of the jurisdictions to which subpara. 1 para. 1 Art. 1209 of the
CCRF refers. And, although Russian jurisprudence in some cases
demonstrates another approach, mostly courts accept the powers
of attorney where a principal’s signature was attested by a notary
public. Despite this fact, a Russian notary should take measures to
verify the authenticity of the powers of attorney and the powers of
agent acting thereunder. Some of the measures are considered in
this article.
Keywords:
notary public, power of attorney, England and Wales, USA, Australia, conflict of laws regulation
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M.N. Iljushina The Role of Notaries in the Qualification of New Civil Law Relations and the Application of the Mechanisms of Their Regulation This article presents a comparative study of the novels of corporate
legislation and the problems that arise in the implementation of the
functions of the notary, which qualify for new civil law relations,
and ensure the application of mechanisms for their regulation in the
conditions of shedding and contradictory legislation, are presented.
The article evaluates the current state of the legislation, the most
urgent problems that require elimination are shown, the proposals
for the implementation of novels are formulated, taking into account
the existing general approaches to regulating the decisions of general
meetings in the LLC and the available gaps and contradictions in the
latest meetings in general liability societies.
Keywords:
companies, the basis of civil rights and obligations, confirmation of decisions of the general meetings of the participants of the LLC, decisions adopted at the meeting, decisions of the general meetings of the LLC
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A.V. Begichev Development of Notary Competence in Certifying Legally Significant Facts This article examines the problems of intersecting competence of the
court and the notary in matters of certifying legal facts. The issue of
unloading the court’s activities by increasing the number of types of
facts having legal significance that can be established by notaries is
examined. Considering the indisputable nature of the said actions, the
author concludes that for most facts established within the framework
of special proceedings, judicial procedure is practically absent, which
gives scope for delegating the resolution of these issues to the notary,
as a body operating in an indisputable jurisdiction.
Keywords:
court, notary, notary competence, certification of legal facts, negative fact, special proceedings
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E.V. Badulina On the Issue of Mandatory Notarial Form for Real Estate Transactions The author examines the mandatory notarial form of real estate
transactions as a mechanism for ensuring and protecting the rights
of participants in civil turnover; analyses the legal risks that exist
when concluding real estate transactions in simple written form, and
the possibility of eliminating them through notarial certification of
transactions. The article reveals the history of the development of the
institution of notarial certification of transactions in Russia; modern
approaches of the legislator to the competence of the notary; the
experience of foreign countries in introducing mandatory notarial
certification of real estate transactions; the functions of the notary
as a human rights institution of civil society. Based on the results of
the study, the author concludes that the current system of notarial
certification of real estate transactions in Russia is heterogeneous
and fragmented, and that it is necessary to amend the current
legislation in order to further expand the list of transactions for
which a mandatory notarial form should be established in the sphere
of real estate turnover.
Keywords:
form of transaction, notarial certification of transaction, real estate transactions, real estate, notary, functions of notary, property liability of notary, civil turnover, real estate turnover, legal risks
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Legal Chronicle In the July chronicle, read expert comments on the law on criminal liability for droppers, acts
of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Court of the Russian
Federation on the protection of a bona fide acquirer and the procedure for selling seized property,
on the refusal of a German court to recognize an arbitration award of a Russian court under
sanctions, on the legislator’s idea to expand the practice of introducing self-bans for citizens and
the possible consequences of creating a national messenger in Russia.
Keywords:
droppers, criminal code, bona fide acquirer, property seizure, bankruptcy, national messenger, self-ban, capacity restriction
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Press Release
Theory and practice
A.S. Selivanovskiy Accounting of Rights to Securities The article discusses the regulations for the accounting of nondocumentary
securities, as well as the legal implications of various
methods of accounting and procedures for transferring ownership
rights to securities.
Keywords:
securities, non-documentary securities, stocks, bonds, investors, depository, registrar, securities accounting, right to paper, right from paper, segregated accounting, nominee holder, custody account
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S.D. Rabina The Legal Fate of the Claims of Mortal Creditors, Forced Heirs and Beneficiaries in the Event of Bankruptcy of a Citizen after his Death The article analyses the legal regulation in terms of determining the
procedure for satisfying the claims of mortal creditors, compulsory
heirs and beneficiaries in comparison with the claims of other
creditors of the bankrupt testator. It is proposed that creditors’
claims to the estate for the expenses incurred by them due to the
death of the testator be considered as mortal claims in accordance
with Article 1174 of the Civil Code. The author has revealed a
discrepancy between the legally established order of satisfaction
of creditors’ claims within the framework of the general provisions
on bankruptcy and the rules on inheritance. The gap in legislation
regarding the observance of the rights guaranteed to compulsory
heirs was noted. The author suggests recognising such heirs of
a bankrupt citizen in the event of his death as creditors of the
bankruptcy estate and including them in the first place of creditors’
claims for current payments.
Keywords:
bankruptcy of a citizen, bankruptcy of a hereditary estate, forced heirs, legatees creditors, satisfaction of creditors’ claims
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S.K. Stepanov Product Liability of Aggregator Owners The volume of online commerce is increasing every year. Nevertheless,
purchasing goods on an online marketplace is sometimes associated
with serious risks of harm. Injured parties often file lawsuits directly
with the marketplace, but the latter are in no hurry to satisfy the
claims, as they insist on their purely intermediary role. The article is
devoted to substantiation of product liability of aggregator owners
for damage caused by defective goods. The author cites the positive
experience of foreign legal orders, where such liability is allowed.
In addition, the study reflects political and legal considerations in
favour of holding the owners of aggregates liable.
Keywords:
tort liability, product liability, marketplace, aggregator owner, strict liability
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