Edina Kočan*
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CONSTRUCTION RIGHTS
Summary
The author presents the historical genesis of the institute of construction law, with the purpose of presenting the reasons for its introduction in the first place, starting from Roman law to the first civil codifications that can be called modern. In this regard, this paper presents Roman long-term land leases first (emphyteusis and superficies). Superficies are considered the forerunner of modern construction law, because, among other similarities, it had almost the same purpose that is achieved today by construction law: to enable cheaper construction of buildings on someone else's land.
Part of this paper is dedicated to the reasons for the revival of the institute of construction rights in the first civil codifications from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century (Austrian law, German law, French law). This part of the paper will also reflect the forms of this right (construction rights and superficiary rights) which occurred when the Roman law was accepted in the countries of the Germanic and Roman legal circles.
In the same period in Serbian law, there was an institute of permanent right to use construction land in social or state ownership, which was in accordance with the, now abandoned, collectivist concept of property rights and which in some way satisfied the interests of individuals and society as a whole.
Today, construction right is regulated by most of the legal systems in the region, but also by the countries of continental Europe. In Serbia, this legal institute has never been regulated in the form we find in comparative law, but its introduction was proposed by the preliminary draft of the Civil Code of Serbia, which, if accepted, will, in our opinion, be fully applied in domestic social relations.
Key words: property law, limited rights of ownership, construction rights, superficies solo cedit, emphyteusis, superficies, permanent right of use.