Location of the Legal Entity: National and International Dimension

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyse the legal and doctrinal approaches to the interpretation of the concept of «location of a legal entity» at the national and international levels. Research methods. The work is performed on the basis of such methods of scientific knowledge as scientific analysis, synthesis, study of information sources, logical-semantic, formal-logical, dialectical, retrospective, prognostic methods. Results. A number of legal acts contain a definition of «location of a legal entity», which is not consistent with each other. In practice, along with the term «location of a legal entity» such terms are still used as «legal address», «registration address», «postal address», «actual address», which further complicates the definition of the conceptual apparatus. Applying these methods, various historical approaches to the interpretation of the legal entity location are studied. This personal non-property right should be enshrined in the rules of private law, but the current version of Art. 93 of the Civil Code of Ukraine is the result of the influence of public law (including tax law). It is determined that according to the philosophical method of cognition from general to specific, there are three levels of the term «location»: as the territory of the state, as a territorial-administrative unit, as a specific postal address. Attention is paid to the importance of this institution in various fields of law, in particular, civil, tax, financial. Conclusions. As a result of the research, a conclusion is made about the different understanding of the location of a legal entity in international private and domestic national law of Ukraine. At the level of private international law of Ukraine, the location of a legal entity is tied to the criterion of incorporation. At the domestic level, the location is currently determined by the criterion of actual location. Among three historically known editions of Art. 93 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, the initial version of 2003 is the most desirable: the location of a legal entity is determined by the place of its state registration. This approach is characterized by predictability, ease and simplicity of definition.