Law of Neighbouring Tenements and the Essence of Private-Law Obligation of Tolerance in Georgian Law

Abstract

 Private Law Reform. On the whole, the analysis of civil law reforms implemented in post-Soviet countries allows for the identification of two main competitive models. Within the framework of the first model the provisions of Soviet civil law, of non-ideological nature, were retained. Majority of post-Soviet countries opted for this model.[1] In these countries the new civil codes were adopted on the basis of Model Civil Code, which codes still retain the provisions of Soviet period. Hence, in countries which applied the above model to themselves, the reform and development of civil law were based on the traditions of the Soviet period.[2]

Georgia opted for fundamentally different line of development of civil law. When it came to the elaboration of the Civil Code of Georgia (CCG), which was drafted under the close cooperation of renown representatives of Georgian private law science and German scholars,[3] the Civil Code of Germany was taken as the basis. In the formation of new legal institutes the CCG fed upon the European codifications.[4][5] Opting for German model was conditioned by its high scholarly authority and the fact, that the authors of the CCG regarded the European type of codification fully concurrent with Georgian historical traditions.[6]      

The law is a part of culture and quite a number of cultural and technical features should be taken into account in the course of reception.[7] It should necessarily be stressed, that none of the abovementioned models of reformation of civil law exists "as is". The countries which opted for the development of civil law within the framework of existing traditions, inevitably borrow certain institutes from other legal systems, at least, to the extent that such borrowing is necessary to legally provide for civil circulation in market economy. On the other hand, in countries, which opted for the reception of foreign law, certain legal traditions, existing before the reception, will be inevitably retained.[8]

Overall, current European Private Law system, and specifically the property law system, is the result of political, economic and legal thinking of the nineteenth century[9]. The foregoing is particularly apparent in the law of neighbouring tenements, which includes normative regulations important for agricultural society of that epoch. Contemporary industrial development posed new challenges in this respect.

^[1]      Comp. Kurzynsky-Singer E., Zarandia T., Rezeption des deutschen Sachenrechts in Georgien, Transformation durch Rezeption?, Transformation durch Rezeption? Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des Rechtstransfers am Beispiel der Zivilrechtsreformen im Kaukasus und in Zentralasien, Kurzynsky-Singer E. (hrsg.), Tübingen, 2014, 108 ff.

^[2]      Ibid.

^[3]      Comp. Zoidze B., Reception of European Private Law in Georgia, Tbilisi, 2005, 1 (in Georgian); Knieper R., Methods of Codification and Conception in Transition Economies (Including the Situation in Georgia), Legal Reform in Georgia, Jorbenadze S., Knieper R., Chanturia L. (eds.), Tbilisi, 1994, 176-191 (in Georgian); Also, comp. Jorbenadze S., Main Challenges of Future Civil Code of the Republic of Georgia, Legal Reform in Georgia, Tbilisi, 1994, 142 (in Georgian).

^[4]      Comp. Makovsky A., Einige Einschätzungen der Hilfe bei der Ausarbeitung der Gesetzgebung und des Standes der internationalen Zusammenarbeit, Wege zu neuem Recht: Materialen internationaler Koferenzen in Sankt Petersburg und Bremen, Boguslavskij M., Knieper R. (hrgb.), Berlin, 1998, 339.

[5]      See. Chitashvili N., Impact of Amended Circumstances on the Fulfilment of Obligations and Potential Secondary Claims of the Parties, Tbilisi, 2014, 81 (in Georgian).

^[6]      Comp. Zoidze B., Reception of European Private Law in Georgia, Tbilisi, 2005, 92 ff (in Georgian).

[7]      With this regard, see: Kennedy D., The Politics and Methods of Comparative Law, The Common Core of European Private Law, Essays on the Project, Mattei U., Bussani M. (eds.), Hague, 2002, 143; With regard to the question of necroreception, see: Burduli I., Nekrorezeption in Transformationsgesellschaften, Dogmatik im Dienst von Gerechtigkeit, Rechtssicherheit und Rechtsentwicklung, Festschrift für Hanns Prüt­ting, Brinkmann M., Effer-Uhe D. O., Völzmann-Stickelbrock B., Weesser S., Weth St. (hrsg.), Köln, 2018, 3 ff.

[8]      E.g., Georgian law renounced the abstract model of transfer of title existing in German law. Comp. Kurzynsky-Singer E., Zarandia T., Rezeption des deutschen Sachenrechts in Georgien, Transformation durch Rezeption?, Transformation durch Rezeption? Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des Rechtstransfers am Beispiel der Zivilrechtsreformen im Kaukasus und in Zentralasien, Kurzynsky-Singer E. (hrsg.), Tübingen, 2014, 110 ff. Furthermore, today the procedure of transfer of title to immovable things does not require notarization unlike German law. With this regard, see: Zarandia T., Purchase of Immovable Property in Good Faith from Unauthorized Seller per Georgian Case Law, Journal Studia Universitatis Moldaviae. Stiinte Sociale, № 8(98), 2016, 75 ff.

[9]      Comp. Akkermans B., Sustainable Property Law?, European Property law Journal, Vol. 7, Issue 1, 2018, 1.