Land Law

It is not surprising that the law regulating such a valuable form of proper­ty tends to be very complex and have a long history. When transferring land both the old and new owners want to be very clear about exactly what has been transferred. Is the house you want to spend all your savings on in a good condition? Do you have the right to use the small piece of ground at the back of the house? If the fence between your house and the next one falls down, who is responsible for it? Are there plans to build a new road right next door, and did the seller know about these plans? Can you even be sure that the seller is the true owner of the land and entitled to sell it to you? A person renting land (a tenant) will also want to know exactly what his rights and responsibilities are, especially if he is planning to live on that land for a long time or wants to be able to sell the right to rent the land to another person. How long can he use the property? Can the owner increase the rent or make him leave? Who must pay for repairs – the owner or the tenant?

As well as being complex, some systems of land law are rather old and include procedures and language that seem mysterious to non-lawyers. In part, this is because governments are often reluctant to change the laws re­lating to land: changes require detailed revisions of detailed laws, and land­owners may be alarmed by new rules relating to their most precious posses­sion. Having had less political change than most countries, England still uses many land laws that originated hundreds of years ago. Some landowners can produce written records that show how their land has passed through-dozens of owners over the years through gifts or sales (although to prove title – that he is the legal owner of the land – the landholder only has to show that he or previous owners held the land legally for a certain number of years.) Even in France and the United States, where political revolutions led to the re-writing of the legal system, some people can show a right to land which originated in a family ancestor long before the revolution.

b) Make true or false statements on the contents of the text.

c) Report on the Land Law in Russia using articles 9 and 36 of the Russian Constitution.

Article 9

1. Land and other natural resources shall be utilized and protected in the Russian Federation as the basis of the life and activity of the peoples living on the territories concerned.

2. Land and other natural resources may be subject to private, State, municipal and other forms of ownership.

Article 36

1. Citizens and their associations shall have the right to possess land as private property.

2. Possession, utilization and disposal of land and other natural resources shall be exercised by the owners freely provided that this is not detrimental to the environment and does not violate the rights and lawful interests of other people.

3. The conditions and procedure for the use of land shall be determined by federal law.

Task 10. Write a paragraph containing two arguments for and against the statement “Society can do without laws”. Discuss your answer with other students. Make short presentations in class reflecting the most interesting arguments.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1413