On the Concept and Attributes of Family Business (Family Entrepreneurship) in the Context of Legal Regulation

The article draws attention to the category of «family business» (family entrepreneurship) which has become widespread in the economic and legal literature at the mundane level and requires its enshrinement in the current legislation. For appropriate legal regulation it is necessary to more clearly identify the essence, define the concept and name attributes of such a socio-economic phenomenon as family entrepreneurship. Attention is drawn to the controversial nature of certain features named in the legal literature. Also the authors’ ideas about them are presented from the point of view of their critical analysis. The authors attempt to analyze the category of «family business» (family entrepreneurship) from the perspective of the ratio of private and public interest manifested in different ways in family and civil law. It is concluded that the priority of public interest over private in the process of doing business by subjects of family relations should be enshrined in law in a number of cases. It is stated that non-property interests in the family prevail over property ones that determines the conclusion about the special nature of relations between family members in joint business. The article describes the constitutive features of the category which allow concluding that special legal regulation of family business is necessary. A general analysis of the Russian Federation subjects legislation regulating certain relations between family members in business is presented. The article proposes a priority vector for the state and society for the development of legal regulation of relations in joint business. Problematic issues that have not been resolved at the legislative level are identified.