HISTORICAL-LEGAL ASPECTS OF FREE PRIVATIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS

Author
, PhD in Law, Judge, Ukraine, Kharkiv
, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, Professor of Land and Agricultural Law Department, Ukraine, Kharkiv

In heading

 Law;

Signed print

 28.03.2024

Issues number

 2024 - 1 (56)

Page

 78-95

Type of articles

 Scientific article

Code UDK

 349.4

ISSN print

 2411-5584

Abstract

 Problem setting. In the contemporary conditions of societal production development and the increasing material needs of the population, the necessity of legal provision for food security arises, prompting the need for the synthesis of legal enforcement practice and systemic analysis of significant legal phenomena that have emerged, formed, and function during the period of Ukraine’s independence. This necessitates an examination of the genesis of legislation regulating land relations, particularly concerning the privatization of agricultural lands.
Recent research and publication analysis. Legal issues of land privatization in general, including free privatization of agricultural lands, have been the subject of particular attention among domestic scholars: P. F. Kulynych, A. H. Martyn, A. M. Miroshnychenkо, A. I. Ripenkо, and others.
Paper objective. The aim of the article is to analyze the historical and legal aspects of the free privatization of agricultural lands.
Paper main body. Land privatization, as a historical concept, was initially introduced in the Concept of De-Statization and Privatization of Enterprises, Land, and Housing by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in 1991. However, the attempt to privatize land through land warrants was not realized. The actual commencement of land privatization by citizens in Ukraine began with the adoption of the Law on Forms of Ownership of Land and the Land Code in 1992. This aimed to accelerate the establishment of market land relations and form a new class of private landowners to ensure food security.
Despite the rapid marketization in the early 1990s, the institution of free land privatization by Ukrainian citizens was preserved and even expanded by the Land Code of 2001. Agricultural land privatization, focusing on free allocation to those who work the land, remained central.
The Land Code of 1992 primarily aimed to implement the Law on Forms of Ownership of Land, recognizing entities like collective agricultural enterprises as subjects of collective land ownership. This agricultural focus underscored the importance of transferring land to those who work it.
The Land Code of 2001 introduced another type of land share, granting them from agricultural lands under permanent use by state and communal agricultural entities during privatization. However, this right is not inheritable and cannot be traded on the market, lasting only until land surveying works are completed.
Ensuring the guaranteed right to receive one’s land share today faces challenges. While free privatization under Article 25 of the Land Code remains possible, other forms of free land transfer to Ukrainian citizens have little prospect. The right to acquire land has become conditional, lacking legal mechanisms for enforcement or sufficient available land. The state struggles to provide land even to citizens with special merits, such as participants in military operations or families of deceased soldiers.
Conclusions. In conclusion, it can be inferred that free land privatization lacks further legal perspective as it is not guaranteed by the state. However, certain provisions of the mechanism of free privatization of agricultural land should be preserved for those individuals directly working on the land. This corresponds to the general approach that land should belong to those who cultivate it. Additionally, it would be prudent to liberalize the procedure of privatizing agricultural lands for participants of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO), combatants, Defenders of Ukraine, and their family members, including families of the deceased. The issue of the possibility for foreigners and stateless persons who participated in defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine to obtain agricultural land plots in private ownership requires legal regulation.
Short abstract for an article
Abstract. The article examines the historical and legal aspects of free agricultural land privatization, highlighting its role in transitioning the agrarian sector to market relations. It notes provisions in the Land Code of the Ukrainian SSR (1990) aimed at liberalizing the land system for a market economy. Legislative consolidation in 1992 preceded the privatization of agricultural land, later regulated by presidential decrees. Specifics of privatization by Ukrainian citizens, including collective enterprise members, are analyzed, along with the mechanism of free privatization using land shares. The article separately considers privatization of state and communal agricultural lands by entity employees and pensioners. It points out that modern free land privatization, especially in agriculture, no longer serves its intended social function, suggesting a need for radical reform and monetization of the process while preserving certain elements during state and communal land privatization.

Keywords

 agrarian and land reform, land protection and restoration, privatization, termination of land rights, land market.

Reviewer

External reviewer

Article in PDF

 78-95

Bibliography

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Code DOI

 https://doi.org/10.31359/2411-5584-2024-56-1-78

28.03.2024