Definitional norms and definitions in Russian private international law

The subject of this research is the doctrinal approaches to the definition and interrelation of definitive norms of law and legal definitions, as well as the definitive norms and statutory definitions enshrined in Section VI "Private International Law" of Part Three of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The study aims to analyze statutory definitions and definitive norms of Russian private international law, identifying their interrelation, structure, and specific features of application. The research employs general scientific, specialized legal, and linguistic methods. The paper analyzes existing doctrinal definitions of concepts such as "definitive norm", "normative definition", "le- gal definition", and "statutory definition", among others, revealing that legal theory either overlooks the interrelation between these concepts or treats them as synonymous. The author proposes a classification of legal definitions into normative (statutory and international), interpretative, and judicial (law-applying). An original definition of a definitive norm is formulated. The study substantiates the need to distinguish between the concepts of "statutory definition" and "definitive norm". Definitive prescriptions within private international law norms (Articles 1192, 1195, 1202, 1203, 1211, 1212, and 1213 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) are examined, revealing the specific features of their structure and their interaction with conflict-of-laws rules. The analysis of statutory private international law norms yields the following conclusions: definitions in private international law do not always take the form of specialized definitive norms and may be embedded within other types of norms; the inclusion of definitions within non-definitive norms complicates their comprehension, highlighting the need to extract definitions outside the main body of the norm; the primary function of definitive norms in private international law is to clarify conflict-of-laws connecting factors; definitive norms operate in conjunction with conflict-of-laws rules and may contain a hypothesis and a definition, but lack an independent sanction.