Introduction. The modern development of the rule of law and civil society necessitates not only the establishment of human rights and freedoms, but also ensuring their fair implementation. One of the most controversial and relevant phenomena in modern legal reality is the abuse of law, a situation in which a subject formally acts within the framework of the opportunities granted to them by law, but, in fact, violates the principles of justice, good faith, and reasonableness. The issue of the abuse of law encompasses both theoretical aspects of the understanding of the essence of rights and the practice of their implementation in various branches of legislation. Theoretical analysis. The abuse of law occurs when a subjective right is used outside its functional framework and in violation of the fundamental principles of the legal system, primarily the principles of justice, good faith, and reasonableness. The study of various forms of the abuse (such as chicanery, circumvention of the law, and other unfair methods of exercising legal rights) has revealed their common nature, which is the deliberate pursuit of an illegal or socially harmful outcome under the guise of formally permissible behavior. Empirical analysis. The empirical basis of the study relies on scientific and theoretical research by legal scholars on the issues under consideration; legal acts, documents; and other materials containing information that allows for a scientific and theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of the abuse of law. Results. The research has revealed that the abuse of law is a specific form of deviant legal behavior that occurs in conditions of formal compliance with the letter of the law, while the actual distortion of its purpose and social significance takes place. This category holds a special place in the general theory of state and law, as it demonstrates the limits of the autonomy of will and the need to combine the freedom of subjective rights with their responsible and conscientious implementation.