Land Rights Disputes: Towards the Effective Protection of Rights, Freedoms, and Interest by the Administrative Courts of Ukraine

Abstract

Background: The choice of an effective and appropriate method of protection is one of the most important stages of legal proceedings because it determines the achievement of the proceedings’ goal. Procedural legislation and the practice of its application to unresolved issues have limited methods of protection in cases of the rights and interests of persons to land by courts of different jurisdictions and the possibility of their cross-application. Methods: To obtain reliable and substantiated conclusions, general and special research methods were used, which processed the results of theoretical research on the problems of justice in Ukraine, land law and administrative process, and materials of legal practice in the form of conclusions on international human rights institutions and Ukrainian courts. Results and Conclusions: The study found that when choosing a method of protection for the infringed right, freedom, or interest, courts should consider the direct relationship between the claim for protection, the content of the right, and the nature of the offence. The jurisdictional component of the right to a fair trial presupposes the need for courts to consider the scope of their powers under the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. The concept of expanding the limits of permissible remedies allows administrative courts to use such remedies (general and special), which will ensure the real restoration of the violated rights, for the protection of which the plaintiff appealed to the court. When considering the requirement to protect the right to a certain object of ownership (including land) in an administrative case, the administrative court is authorised to apply substantive remedies, taking into account the material nature of the violated right, as well as whether the violation was committed by a decision, action, or inaction of the subject of power, which legalises the right of a person to the relevant object of property and is beyond the discretion of the authority in the management of public property.