Application of the Principles of Contract Law to Contractual Relations complicated by a Digital Element

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the application of the principles of law in contractual relations, the emergence or implementation of which are associated with the use of digital means. The development of digital technologies has caused objective changes in the structure and qualities of economic turnover. At the same time, objective changes mean those that are formed due to changes in the behavior of private entities at the micro level. The author substantiates the thesis according to which, in conditions of a lack of regulatory regulation, the relevant principles of law are in demand sources of law for resolving potential conflicts of interest. The author states that in conditions when the main categories of civil law are being revised — subjects (identity identification), objects (tokenization), transactions (ways of expressing will in the digital economy), fulfillment of obligations (smart contracts), the main thing that law will remain unchanged is its principles. The principles of law are lawthemselves; the rest is either changing forms of relations that law affects, or a changing mechanism for the implementation of legal ideas. In turn, it is the principles of law that contain invariable methods of resolving conflicts of interest, which is the main subject of law. Complicating the contractual relationship with a digital element not only does not cancel the application of principles to such relations, but at the stage of insufficient regulatory regulation as a means of implementing the principles of law requires their active use to resolve conflicts of interest. The paper classifies some cases of digital means application at the stage of concluding a contract, fulfilling obligations, and enforcement. The potential of the principles of law for resolving disputable situations in digital contractual relations at each stage of the development of contractual legal relations is shown.