Contractual relations: trends in the development of obligation law

This article is dedicated to a comprehensive study of the transformation of the institution of contract law in Russia under the influence of digitalization processes. The subject of analysis is the evolution of contractual relations – from their historical roots, based on the customs of ancient Russian law, to the modern system of norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, functioning in the context of the digital economy. The work examines the fundamental principles of obligation law (freedom of contract, good faith, legal equality of the parties) and their adaptation to the unprecedented challenges of modernity. Special attention is given to the legal nature of new digital phenomena: smart contracts, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, blockchain, as well as data as a potentially new object of civil rights. The trend of the expansion of contractual principles beyond the classical private law sphere into corporate and public law relations is analyzed. The methodological basis of the study consists of both general scientific methods (dialectical, systemic analysis, deduction) and specific legal methods: historical-legal (for the retrospective development of institutions), formal-legal (for the analysis of doctrine and regulatory acts), comparative legal (for comparing Russian approaches with foreign trends), and the method of judicial and arbitration practice (analyzing specific cases illustrating law enforcement issues). The scientific novelty of the work lies in the systematic understanding of the dialectics of the interaction between classical civil law principles and digital innovations. Unlike fragmented studies, a holistic view of the problem is proposed through the prism of judicial practice, which, while maintaining a conservative approach to the form of the transaction, demonstrates flexibility in protecting rights, adapting traditional institutions to disputes arising from smart contracts. The results of the study showed that digitalization does not negate the basic postulates of contract law but requires their substantive updating. Key risks of the digital environment have been identified, such as asymmetry of parties in contracts with platforms, uncertainty of the legal status of algorithms and "digital agents," as well as collisions between national regimes of digital sovereignty and the cross-border nature of digital trade. The conclusions justify the need for a balanced modernization of legislation. Targeted changes are proposed: legislative consolidation of the conceptual framework, strengthening the protection of the weaker party, implementing principles of transparency and explainability of algorithms, as well as harmonizing national regulation with international standards of digital circulation.