Ownership in Good Faith as Grounds for the Acquisitive Prescription of a Predial Servitude

Abstract

In the amendment of the Civil Code introduced on 30th May 2008, the institution of the utility servitude was intended to regulate the legal state of utility facilities established on other people’s property. As it turns out, in practice, utility enterprises are not always interested in establishing a chargeable utility servitude through an agreement. With increasing frequency, these companies are turning to acquisitive prescription of a predial servitude resembling the utility servitude. This is particularly the case when they feel entitled to the servitude because they have owned facilities on somebody else’s land for decades. This would lead to the assumption that acquisitive prescription would mostly take place after a period of 30 years, and in bad faith, due to the difficulties in finding proof and determining good faith in relation to a utility servitude. However, a judgement of the Court of Appeal in Katowice dated 6th March 2012 provides an example of commuting the premise concerning the acquisition of ownership of an servitude in good faith by acquisitive prescription. An extensive explanation of the court has been presented in this paper.