Legal Aspects of Turnover of Agricultural Lands in Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract

The article is considering the development of the legislation regulating the turnover of agricultural lands in post-Soviet Russia. Such legislation is very peculiar, taking into account the complete ban of the civil turnover of land plots in the Soviet period and the lack of legal regulation of this problem in the active phase of the land reform (the middle and the second of the half 1990 years). The author used abstract-logical, comparative-legal, formal-legal and historical methods. The article highlights the stages in the development of legislation, their peculiarities, as well as the main tasks at these stages. Also the different sectors of modern domestic agricultural land use were revealed and the main differences in their legal regime were investigated. The main attention is paid to the Federal law “On turnover of agricultural lands” (2002), the conditions in which it was enacted, and its subsequent adjustments. The general conclusion is that the legislation which is regulating the turnover of agricultural lands, despite the its high dynamism and excessive politicization, turned out to be more stable than the other parts in the land policy of the state and the laws which define of such policy. The nearest prospect of the development of the legal mechanism for regulating the turnover of agricultural lands was reviewed. Also this article analyzes key factors which are affecting on this prospect.