Legal regime of land

General Provisions

The legal regime of land determines the legal basis for the use, protection, and management of land resources, considering land as a vital natural object and means of production. Land and the topsoil are inextricably linked with other components of nature, and their rational use is the foundation of sustainable societal development.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation establishes the principle of protecting and using land as the basis for life and economic activities, stipulating that regulation of land relations takes into account the natural, economic, and property value of land. Legislation considers land as an object of ownership and other real rights.

Russian land legislation is within the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and its subjects, including the Land Code of the Russian Federation (ZK RF), federal laws, and laws of the subjects of the Russian Federation. Norms of land law contained in other normative acts must comply with the provisions of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, ensuring uniform legal regulation.

The legal regulation of land relations is also carried out through decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation, and acts of executive authorities and local self-government bodies. These normative acts form a system of management aimed at rational use of land, their protection and prevention from degradation.

The main legislative acts forming the legal regime of land include federal laws on environmental protection, land reclamation, turnover of agricultural lands, land surveying, and regulation of soil fertility. The combination of these norms ensures comprehensive legal regulation of the use and protection of land resources.

As noted by Yu.G. Zharikov, land and the upper soil layer, being an inseparable part of the entire ecological system of our planet, are inextricably linked with other parts of it: waters, forests, animals and plant life, minerals, and other values of the earth's interior. Without land and soil, the use of other natural resources is practically impossible. At the same time, mismanagement of land will immediately or in the near future cause harm to the entire surrounding natural environment.

Article 9 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation provides that land and other natural resources are used and protected in the Russian Federation as the basis for the life and activities of the peoples living on the corresponding territory. At the same time, regulation of relations concerning the use and protection of land is carried out based on the concept of land as a natural object protected as an important component of nature, a natural resource used as a means of production in agriculture and forestry, and the basis for carrying out economic and other activities within the territory of the Russian Federation, and simultaneously as immovable property, an object of ownership and other rights to land (subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, land legislation¹, as well as issues of ownership, use and disposal of land² are within the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation. The relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation are developed in the Land Code of the Russian Federation. According to article 2 of this Code, land legislation in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation is within the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation. Land legislation consists of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, federal laws and laws adopted by the subjects of the Russian Federation in accordance with them. Norms of land law contained in other federal laws and laws of the subjects of the Russian Federation must comply with the Land Code of the Russian Federation.

Land relations may also be regulated by the decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, which must not contradict the Land Code of the Russian Federation (ZK RF) or federal laws. The Government of the Russian Federation adopts decisions regulating land relations within the scope of powers defined by the ZK RF, federal laws, as well as decrees of the President of the Russian Federation regulating land relations.

On the basis of and in implementation of the ZK RF, federal laws, other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, laws and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation, executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation within their powers may issue acts containing norms of land law.

On the basis of and in implementation of the ZK RF, federal laws, other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, laws and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation, local self-government bodies within their powers may issue acts containing norms of land law.

Alongside the Land Code of the Russian Federation, the main federal laws defining the legal regime of land may include: The Federal Law "On Environmental Protection" (which defines the legal regime of all components of the natural environment, including land); the Law of the Russian Federation "On Payment for Land"³; The Federal Law "On Land Reclamation"⁴; The Federal Law "On the Transfer of Land or Land Plots from One Category to Another"⁵; The Federal Law "On the Circulation of Agricultural Land"⁶; The Federal Law "On State Regulation of the Fertility Maintenance of Agricultural Land"⁷; The Federal Law "On Land Management"⁸.