Alienation of a land parcel: a subjective civil right or legal duty?

It is widely accepted in legal literature that the owner of a land parcel has a subjective right to the alienation of a land parcel but not a legal duty. Foreign legislators and lawyers approve of the approach when the right to ownership is viewed not as a full, absolute and unlimited right but as a benefit, which places the owner under certain duties in the interests of society (such an approach is sometimes called the concept of "social function of the right to ownership"). The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation while declaring the principle of inviolability of property stipulates the possibility of forced alienation of land parcels. According to Article 35, Items 2 and 3 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the forced alienation of property for public needs can be done only on the conditions of a preliminary and equivalent recovery. Article 235, Item 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation contains the list of grounds for forced alienation of land parcels. In all the cases enlisted in the above article, it is the owner of a land parcel who should complete the alienation of his land parcel. But such a duty is not always stipulated by public needs, as it can occur in the case of buying land parcels for public or municipal needs (Articles 279282 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). For example, the need for a forced alienation of a land parcel which by law cannot belong to the person (Article 238 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Article 5 of the Federal Law "On the turnover of agricultural land") is connected with the particular interest of our state in preserving some lands held as private property of Russian citizens and Russian entities. If the court declares the title of a landowner to purchase a land parcel on which his property is located, the necessity to alienate such a parcel by its owner is stipulated by his interests (Article 272, Item 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Forced alienation of a land parcel, which is used either inappropriately or with legislative violations, is aimed at the prevention of its inappropriate use (Articles 284-286 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Thus, to protect the rights and interests of other people and the public at large in cases fixed by federal laws, the owners can have a legal duty to alienate their land parcels.

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