Real Property as a Thing Under the Polish Civil Code

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the main characteristics of things in the Polish civil law, with a particular emphasis on real property. According to the Polish Civil Code, real property includes land, buildings or parts of buildings. A thing, including a real property, is a normative concept, limited under the Polish law to self-contained material objects. The material nature of the land may raise doubts due to the fact that it is a “part of the earth's surface” (Article 46 § 1 of the Civil Code). The land thus understood is only “materialized” by objects located on or below the surface. However, the scope of acts related to the exercise of the ownership title is determined by the framework of the permissible use of space, i.e., the socio-economic purpose of land (Article 143 of the Civil Code). Then again, a building or its part may constitute a real property separate from the land in the cases specified in special regulations. These regulations distinguish not only between buildings and premises, but also between parts of buildings that are non-separated premises or a common property related to the perpetual usufruct of land in a building in which residential apartments have been singled out as distinct separate properties.