The principle of autonomy of the will of the parties is the fundamental principle of private international law, as well as the basic, preferable, conflict-related linkage, which provides the parties to the legal relationship with complete and foreseeable legal regulation and relieves the court of the need to resolve the conflict issue directly alongside the legal problems that accompany it. Non-recognition of lex voluntatis by states is fraught with inhibition of the development of both the domestic and global economy, but at the same time the absence of restrictions on the private law principle will inevitably lead to dishonest behavior of economic operators, abuse of rights and violation of the balance of private and public interests in society. Sufficient limitations on the autonomy of the will of the parties in the choice of applicable law are necessary, which makes it possible to achieve the "golden mean" in the legal regulation of relations complicated by a foreign element. These limitations are a complex of time, spatial and content limits of the principle under consideration.