LEGAL MODELING AS A METHOD OF CIVIL RESEARCH

Introduction: the authors of the scientific works on civil law often refer to the use of legal modelling methods as the methodological basis of their work. However, from the text of the work it is not always clear where and for what reasons the above method was used by the researcher. This situation is largely caused by the lack of sufficient knowledge about the essence and possibilities of this scientific cognition method, as well as about the rules, situations and order of its use. Purpose: to reveal the contents and show the perspectives of using the legal modelling method for performing private law researches. Methods: the general scientific cognition methods were mainly used (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison, description and others), along with the specific juridical methods (juridical-dogmatic method, legal modelling method and others). Results: the possibility and (in some cases) the necessity to use both the theoretical legal modelling method and the empiric legal modelling method was proved. The essence of two types of legal modelling was explained: of the normative-legal type and of the behavioural type which should be used in dialectical unity and interrelation. Three stages of legal modelling were identified: building a legal model; comparing the constructed model with the actual legal phenomenon; forecasting the prospects for the development of the legal phenomenon on the basis of the constructed model.