Good Faith as a Condition for Initial Acquisition of the Property Right

Introduction. The relevance of the study is ensured by the fact that the Russian civil legislation specifically refers to good faith as a mandatory condition for acquiring the property right by some initial methods, without defining its content. The significance of the study is manifested in the fact that it reveals the approaches of civil legislation, law enforcement practice and doctrine to the solution of this issue. Purpose. The purpose of the study is to determine the content and meaning of good faith in the initial acquisition of the property right. Methodology. The methodological basis of the study was formed by structural-functional, formal-logical methods and the method of legal modeling. Results. The paper reveals the absence of a direct legislative definition of the concept of good faith in civil legal relations and related problems, establishes differences in the approaches of judicial practice to the understanding of this category as a condition for acquiring the property right under acquisitive prescription and in good faith acquisition of a thing under a transaction from a person who has no right to alienate it, substantiates the conclusion about the need to improve legal regulation in this sphere. Conclusion. Conclusions are drawn on the necessity to maintain good faith as a condition for the initial acquisition of the property right with a legislative definition of its meaning (in the subjective sense (a person “knew or could have known about ...”) for the good faith acquisition of a thing under a transaction from a person who has no right to alienate it, and in the objective sense (“the person's behavior is expected from the position of the prevailing social perceptions of good and evil”) for prescriptive possession.