THE REDUCTION OF PENALTY BY THE COURT: CURRENT ISSUES OF LEGAL PRACTICE
Relevance of the research. The institute of a penalty is a one of the traditional institutions of civil law. The penalty acts as a way of ensuring commitments, and is a liability for the breach of obligation performance. The relevance of the penalty application is that it encourages parties to perform their obligations properly, because it is a real threat of property costs, and in addition, is an efficient and versatile way of compensation of creditor’s losses in case of default or improper performance by the debtor of his obligations. However, we should take into account that the penalty awarded by the court should not be a means of enrichment of the creditor, and the right to recover should not be used unfair, illegal purposes. The aim of this work is to consider the general provisions about the penalty and methods of its reduction by the court based on current judicial practice. Materials and methods. The current civil law was analyzed and judicial practice was examined in this paper. The methodology includes general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis and a formal legal method. Results. General provisions about the penalty and its main features were examined. Current judicial practice was analyzed and the question of penalty reduction limits by the court was considered. Implication. The penalty is a form of civil liability, which is actively appeal, the participants of the business turnover, whose rights have been violated by the company in respect of non-execution or improper execution of obligations. In case of obvious disproportion of the penalty to consequences of infringement, the debtor may apply to the court a statement of its reduction, while providing the necessary evidence. In turn, the court is given the opportunity to reduce the penalty, which is one of the legal ways of protection against abuse of rights.