UZANCE AS A FORM OF FIXATION OF CUSTOMARY NORMS: LEGAL ASPECT

Abstract

article is devoted to uzance as a legal phenomenon of social reality. Uzance is a document issued by a competent entity (an authoritative organization) that records and certifies existing customs. It is established that uzance has ancient origins; however, under this name, it probably began to function only in the twentieth century. It is emphasized that the most well-known uzance in the history of law is the international set of rules Incoterms, which contains explanations of commercial terms and is compiled and updated by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. It is highlighted that the concept of usance has been most thoroughly developed in South Slavic jurisprudence. This was facilitated by historical reasons, since after the Second World War the commercial legislation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia developed slowly, and instead written customs (usances) came to dominate. Most Yugoslav uzances were later codified into legislation; however, uzances still play a noticeable role in Serbia, Croatia, and other Balkan republics. In interwar Poland, usances were also of great importance, and in 1938 the Council of the Union of Grain and Commodity Exchanges issued the document “Trade conditions (Polish exchange customs)”. The same period was also characterized by local uzances – collections of local customs confirmed by the opinions of regional chambers of commerce and industry (for example, in Lviv in 1927 and 1939). In modern Ukraine, uzances are documents issued by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine that record and certify commercial, port, and other customs. Ukrainian ports have their own customs collections, which are determined by both port’s the geographical location and the specifics of the operations carried out by the port. Existing Ukrainian uzances have a several shortcomings, since their texts often include norms that do not have a customary origin or excessively duplicate the norms of current legislation. At the same time, there is space for society’s customary law-making, with its results effectively embodied in uzances.