Public and private land easements: the current state of legal regulation and trends in development

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the legal nature of public and private land servitudes in contemporary Ukrainian legislation. The origin and evolution of the concept of servitude are analysed. It is emphasized that the Land Code of Ukraine defines a land servitude as the right of limited, paid or gratuitous use of another person’s land plot, whereas the Civil Code of Ukraine expands the scope of regulation by distinguishing between personal servitudes and land servitudes. The auxiliary character of a land servitude is examined, which is manifested in the possibility of exercising a limited right to use certain attributes of a land plot, distinguishing it from other types of rights to land, in particular lease, emphyteusis, and superficies. It is substantiated that the legal nature of a land servitude is complex: from the perspective of civil law it functions as a limited real right; from the standpoint of land law it serves as an effective instrument for regulating the rational use of land; and from the viewpoint of environmental law it acts as a means of ensuring access to natural resources and environmental protection. Particular attention is paid to the study of doctrinal approaches to the division of servitudes into public and private, as well as to the problems arising from the absence of a clear legislative definition of the concept of a “public land servitude.” Key legal conflicts related to the vagueness of legislative criteria for establishing public servitudes are analysed, as this often leads to conflicts between private and public interests. Private servitudes are examined as a classical instrument of legal regulation of relations between owners of adjacent land plots for the satisfaction of individual needs. The environmental-law dimension of land servitudes is emphasized as a mechanism for the implementation of the constitutional right to an environment safe for life and health and for ensuring environmental justice. On the basis of the analysis, conclusions are formulated regarding the need to improve legislative procedures, provide normative clarification of the content of servitudes, and enhance guarantees for the protection of public environmental interests.