The study is devoted to the legal nuances of the participation of state bodies in civil law relations. It identifies the reasons why the legislator has established different procedures for their involvement, as well as analyzes the patterns that determine the specifics of interaction between the state and citizens within the framework of civil law relations. In the course of the work, special attention is paid to the differences between the institutions identified in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 125 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The article is devoted to the analysis of the broad understanding of the term «state bodies» in Russian legislation.