Codification of the Treaty of Accession in the European Countries of the Romance Legal Group: A Comparative Legal Analysis

In most European countries of the Romanesque legal group, the institution of the treaty of accession is recognized either at the level of doctrine or through special rules on standard terms of contracts, but only a few European countries directly codify it as an independent structure. The purpose of the study is to analyze the process and significance of codification of the treaty of accession in the countries of the Romanesque legal group of continental Europe, as well as to compare the legislative approaches of Russia, France, Romania and a number of other states. The objectives are: to identify the countries of the Romanesque legal group that codified the treaty of accession; to determine the doctrinal and practical consequences of codifying the treaty of accession. The methodological basis of the research is a comparative legal analysis of legislation, the study of judicial practice, formal legal and historical legal approaches, as well as the study of scientific publications on the subject under consideration. The results of the study show that only in Russia, France and Romania the accession agreement is directly fixed at the level of the civil code; at the same time, it is the codification of the institution that ensures a high degree of legitimacy, unambiguity of definition, facilitates judicial protection and stimulates the development of related legal mechanisms. In all the countries considered, special measures are used to protect the weak side and prevent unfair conditions, but the forms of fixation, the scope and severity of regulation vary significantly. Direct codification (as in Russia, France, and Romania) is recognized as optimal from the standpoint of doctrinal and practical certainty, which ensures predictability for all participants in the turnover, facilitates dogmatic study, and promotes the harmonization of national private law systems.