The article aims to identify the positive potential of the deviations in law. The authors explore issues related to the definition and essence of positive deviations in law, identification of causes, factors and conditions of their occurrence, elaboration on mechanisms for the development of positive deviations in law; identification of the consequences of such deviations. Special attention is given to self-regulation and civil initiatives as the favourable environment for the emergence of positive deviations in law and legal technologies of registering such deviations. The authors emphasize the interrelationship between the legal models and legal deviations. Their coexistence is inevitable, they are inextricably linked, and only their combined study is able to explain the processes of interest. Positive deviations in law are not per se, but only from the point of view of the given legal models. The recognition of deviations as positive depends on the assessment of the relevant legal model. The authors offer their own definition of positive deviations in law as the stable displacement of means of legal regulation from regulatory purposes, which resulted in unforeseen socially useful results. The authors conclude that positive deviations in law facilitate the selection of variants of lawful behavior and legal discretion, and are a source of lawmaking, as well as they promote correction of archaic legal models or creation of new ones.