LEGAL RESTRICTIONS AND INFORMAL LAND USE PRACTICES OF CHINESE FARMERS ON THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

Abstract

УДК 349.41 The article is devoted to the analysis of legal forms and informal land use practices existing among Chinese farmers on the Russian Far East. The main intention of the authors is to explore the reasons for the existence of sustainable practices circumvent legal restrictions of land rights of foreign citizens and legal entities, as well as determine the “limits of limitations” of land rights of foreigners (including property and land lease rights). Problem field of the research includes definition of trends of legal regulation in this sphere, classification of informal land use practices by Chinese farmers, as well as a comparative description of the trends in legal regulation of land relations with foreign element in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Asia-Pacific countries. Methodology includes sociological methods (interview, participant observation) by which authors has obtained and classified infor-mation on informal land use practices existing among Chinese farmers. Specially-legal methods (including comparative legal analysis and method of normative interpretation) were used to determine the regulatory trends in neighboring countries as well as to find out the limits of restrictions which may be imposed on foreigners land rights without con-tradiction with federal Constitution. Restrictive initiatives promoted recently by Ministry of agriculture not only make a visible contrast with the liberalization of land use in the neighboring countries of the Asia-Pacific region, but also are not adequate in light of the government's intentions to attract foreign investment into the economy of the Far East region. The fact that some subjective rights belongs to foreign citizens and legal persons in itself does not allow the government to restrict them more than such rights of Russian citizens. Moreover, further limitation invades in the very essence of the content (core) of the right for land. A further limitation of land use rights of foreigners not only would repel investment, but will also encourage the development of informal land use practices, which, in turn, are the breeding ground for corruption in local government, as well as in the controlling and supervisory authorities.