The article states that the emergence of transactions that are bypassing the law is associated with the optimization of its activities by business entities. The author considers numerous points of view connected with the definition of the legal phenomenon of transactions in circumvention of the law, as well as their place in civil legislation. In his study, the author notes that the domestic legal doctrine has developed a variety of approaches to the definition of transactions that are circumvented by the law. Thus, transactions circumventing the law can be interpreted as a form of mock transactions; as a kind of legal violation or even as lawful actions based on the principle of freedom of contract and so on. Each of the approaches analyzed is not perfect. Therefore, along with these approaches, the author proposes a position according to which the transactions circumventing the law represent such actions, which in their essence are a form of abuse of the law.