At the current stage of the development of Ukrainian private law, marked by the processes of recodification of civil legislation, a reassessment of the fundamental categories of property and obligation law is gaining particular significance. One such insufficiently researched yet conceptually important category is the right of expectancy (or expectancy right) – a legal phenomenon that lies at the intersection of factual interest and legally significant entitlement. Its legal nature, limits of protection, functions, and correlation with other proprietary and obligatory rights remain theoretically ambiguous and normatively unsettled under the Civil Code of Ukraine, which gives rise to conflicts both in judicial practice and doctrinal interpretation. The relevance of studying the right of expectancy is driven not only by the internal logic of the evolution of private law doctrines but also by external challenges, particularly the need to implement European standards for the protection of rights of subjects in civil legal relations.The purpose of this article is to establish the conceptual foundations of the right of expectancy through the lens of contemporary Ukrainian civil law doctrine and recent developments in light of the recodification of the civil legislation of Ukraine, and to develop, on this basis, a coherent vision of the principles for constructing a normative model of the right of expectancy as a limited proprietary right to another’s property.

Based on the conducted research, the author substantiates the right of expectancy, in a conceptual sense, as a hybrid legal construct that combines elements of a proprietary right and a conditional obligational interest, providing an institutional framework for the transitional state between obligation and ownership. Accordingly, in the context of the recodification of the civil legislation of Ukraine, it is proposed that the right of expectancy be recognized as independent limited proprietary right sui generis, which performs the function of a legal bridge between factual possession of a thing and the future acquisition of full proprietary rights to it.

Consequently, the conceptual foundations of the right of expectancy within the context of the recodification of Ukraine’s civil legislation should include: its legal nature as a limited proprietary right, the object of which is immovable property either existing at the moment of establishment or arising in the future; its functional purpose: the legal stabilization of the legal status by protecting the legitimate interest of a person who relies on acquiring a proprietary right in the future; the grounds for the emergence of the right of expectancy: a contract or a statute; the content of the right and the scope of the entitlements of its holder: the right of expectancy grants the holder certain attributes of ownership, while not conferring the power of full disposal over the thing, in line with its limited nature; its enforceability against third parties, since one of the central tenets of the institution is its potential erga omnes effect within the limits established by law.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Maidanyk R, Rechove pravo: pidruchnyk (Alerta 2019) (in Ukrainian). Edited books

2. Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR): Full Edition prepared by the Study Group on a European Civil Code and the Research Group on EC Private Law (Acquis Group) (Christian von Bar, Eric Clive, Hans Schulte-Nölke (eds), Sellier, European Law Publishers GmbH 2009).

3. Kontseptsiia onovlennia Tsyvilnoho kodeksu Ukrainy (ArtEk 2020) (in Ukrainian).

4. Modelni pravyla rechevoho prava (R Maidanyk (red), Pidruchnyky i posibnyky 2025) (in Ukrainian).

5. Rekodyfikatsiia tsyvilnoho zakonodavstva Ukrainy: vyklyky chasu (N Kuznietsova (red), Helvetyka 2021) (in Ukrainian).Journal articles

6. Belianevych O, ‘Poniattia lehitymnykh ochikuvan ta problemy yoho zastosuvannia sudamy Ukrainy’ [2016] 16 Pryvatne pravo i pidpryiemnytstvo 41–44 (in Ukrainian).

7. Rym T, ‘Poniattia prava ochikuvannia yak katehorii v investytsiinomu protsesi budivnytstva’ [2020] 12 Pidpryiemnytstvo, hospodarstvo i pravo 44 (in Ukrainian).

8. Shevchenko I, ‘Kontseptsiia “pravomirne ochikuvannia” u praktytsi Yevropeiskoho sudu z prav liudyny’ [2021] 4 Yurydychnyi naukovyi elektronnyi zhurnal 656–659 (in Ukrainian).

9. Slipchenko S, ‘Poniattia zakonnykh ochikuvan yak riznovydu maina’ [2020] 62(3) Forum prava 66–76 (in Ukrainian). Conference papers

10. Fedorko M, ‘Pravo ochikuvannia yak obmezhene rechove pravo v konteksti rekodyfikatsii Tsyvilnoho kodeksu Ukrainy’, Dvanadtsiati yurydychni dysputy z aktualnykh problem pryvatnoho prava: do 25-richchia zasnuvannia kaf. tsyv.-prav. dystsyplin: materialy Mizhnar. nauk.-prakt. konf., prysviach. pam’iati Ye. V. Vaskovskoho (Odesa, 31 trav. 2024 r.) (V Truba (red), A Sviatoshniuk (uporiad), Feniks 2024) 114–117 (in Ukrainian).

11. Karnaukh B, ‘Pravomirni ochikuvannia v praktytsi Yevropeiskoho sudu z prav liudyny’, Aktualni problemy pryvatnoho prava: materialy nauk.-prakt. konf., prysviach. 94-i richnytsi z dnia narodzh. V. P. Maslova, Kharkiv, 19 liut. 2016 r. (Kharkiv 2016) 223–225 (in Ukrainian). Websites

12. 9 lystopada 2025 roku Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy povidomliaie pro pochatok hromadskoho obhovorennia proiektu knyhy 3 «Recheve pravo» Tsyvilnoho kodeksu Ukrainy (9 lystopada 2025) (accessed 27.11.2025) (in Ukrainian).