Digitization of Objects of Civil Law Relationships: From Transformation to New Legal Regimes
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Drawing upon the methodology of scientific inquiry and the foundational tenets of civil law theory, the author explores the legal consequences of digital transformation in the sphere of civil law relationships. The analysis leads to the conclusion that a variety of digital phenomena — including digital rights, the digital ruble, digital currency, cryptocurrency, digital financial assets, artificial intelligence, and associated technologies-constitute, by their essential nature, ideal-type innovative products. Through the use of computer processor-based machine language that represents a materially grounded system of signs these intangible constructs acquire an objective digital embodiment, thereby attaining the status of objects of civil law relationships. Based upon the proposed classification of digital objects, the author examines typological characteristics and distinctions of such objects in legal regulation. The study further identifies emerging trends in the evolution of property turnover,particularly in relation to the multiplier effect of digital objects under conditions of systemic transformation. The author addresses the legal consequences arising from alterations in the objective form and the interchangeability of the material carriers of new digital objects. The author argues that the theoretical and practical challenges associated with the transformation of the nexus between the content, form, and material substrate of digital objects underscore the necessity for the development and legislative codification of legal constructs capable not only of remedying existing lacunae and complexities in the regulation of relations involving innovative digital products, but also of establishing effective mechanisms for the legal protection of such objects and the enforcement of subjective rights in relation thereto.
Source: Lex Russica
Author: L. Yu. Vasilevskaya
Institution: Kutafin Moscow State Law University
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7083009489