Parygina N.N. Apologies in case of defamation: sphere of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation or the moral code of a defendant?

Abstract: The object of this research is the social relations forming in the area of protection of citizens’ rights to honor and dignity, as well as the rights of citizens and legal entities to business reputation. With a wide arsenal of various means of legal defense of business reputation from defamation, the civil lawyers are often faced with the question of reasonableness and legality of apology as a means of protection of the business reputation. The subject of this research is the issue of legality and reasonableness of the use of apologies as an independent means of protecting civil right. The article also addresses the issues of qualifications of issuing an apology as a retraction of previously made statements or expressed beliefs due to coercion; highlighting the forms of apologies, and selecting those that need legislative regulation; satisfaction of public enquiry for corresponding modification of the means of protection of intangible assets. The goal of this article lies in the attempt to understand them. The research is conducted in the context of the corresponding international legal norms, as well as thematic generalization of current norms of the Russian legislation. The novelty of this work is defined by the multi-aspect original analysis of apologizing as a legal phenomenon, detection of legislative gaps, and author’s vision on the solution to the problems that arose in light of these gaps.

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