The legal triad of the terms «fruits», «products», «income» and the ratio of the concepts they denote

The article clarifies the meaning of the terms "fruits", "products", "income", used in Art. 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, but without a legal definition. The most common and commonly used meaning of the term "products" is any tangible goods produced using things or even without them (including the results of work and services, as well as processed products), while the term "income" is any periodic property (usually monetary) income from any human activity (including independent of any thing). In this general sense, the triad "fruits, products, incomes" is a legacy of late Soviet law. In the context of the policy of privatization and the transfer of the economy to "market rails" pursued in the early 90s of the XX century, the emergence of the "triad" in question, covering any "results of economic and other use of property", was caused by the desire to fully ensure the independence and independence from the state of enterprises created during privatization. The broad historical interpretation under consideration corresponds to the will of the legislator of the transitional period, in which the norm of Article 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation was created. However, today it does not meet the changed conditions, which is shown by specific examples of the instrumental use of things: the broad concepts of products and income today are devoid of civil law meaning, and the rule of art. 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation loses its certainty with such an interpretation and contradicts other norms, being replaced by them. The purpose of Article 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and its function is to determine the ownership of not any proceeds from the use of property, but only fruits in the proper sense, regardless of whether their receipt was the result of a violation of someone else's right and whether it entails responsibility. Therefore, the concepts of products and income in the meaning of Art. 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation should follow from a restrictive interpretation and do not coincide with the concepts designated by the same terms in other institutions (processing, unjustified enrichment, responsibility). For the purposes of applying Article 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, it should be assumed that all three types of receipts mentioned in it relate to fruits in their classical sense (fructus), i.e. they should be characterized by origin either from the fruitbearing thing itself while preserving its essence (natural fruits, including industrial products), or from the legal use of the mother substances (civil fruits - incomes). So, "fruits" in the sense of Art. 136 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation are purely natural fruits (fructus mere naturales) that appear by virtue of nature itself without significant human involvement.; "products" are natural industrial fruits (fructus industriales), i.e. products of production, in which both nature and human labor are jointly involved, and which do not include processed products (things made from other things); "incomes" are civil fruits (fructus civiles), i.e. only receipts provided by the legal use of the parent substance and representing a counter-satisfaction of the obligation. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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