The institute of acquiring the right of ownership by acquisitive prescription under Kosovo's law

• Author: Rrustem Qehaja, Armend Ahmeti
• Pages: 220-231

The institute of acquiring the right of ownership by acquisitive

prescription under Kosovo’s law

Professor Rrustem QEHAJA1

Msc. Armend AHMETI2

Abstract

A special and very important place in Kosovo’s Property Law system occupies the

legal norms pertaining to the Acquisition of Immovable Property by Acquisitive Prescription

(Usucapio). Exactly this paper is about this subject, very interesting and debating among

jurists. The purpo se of this paper it is for the reader to acquire solid knowledge regard ing

the Acquisition of Ownership on Immovable Property by Acquisitive Prescription under the

Law o f Kosovo. Especially, in an analitical way we will discuss ab out the Acquisition of

Ownership on Immovable P roperty by ‘Usucapio’ (Praescriptio). During this brief and

substantive analysis we have been served with relevant legal texts, especially with Law

no.03/L-154 on Property and Other Real Rights of the Republic of Kosovo and in a

comparative historica l view with Law no.6/80 on Basic Property Relations of the Former

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Keywords: property law, acquisitive prescription, immovable property, property

relations, law on property, real rights.

JEL Classification: K11, K15, K25

1. The acquisition of ownership by acquisitive prescription under

Kosovo’s law

Kosovo’s Law accepts these real rights: 1. Ownership, 2. Servitude, 3.

Pledge, 4. Realty Charges and 5. Building Right. In this sense, t he principle of the

‘numeric clausus’ of real rights is accepted in Kosovo's law. ‘Real rights, known as

‘iura in rem’, on immovable property rights are gained only with the registration of

the right in public registers established for this purpose.’3 ‘Ownership on immovable

property is obtained by: 1) Legal title (iustus titulus), which may be the derivative

title (juridical action-cause) and Original title (prescription, decision of the state

body, merger of things, etc.) and 2) Mode of Acquisition (modus aquirendi) which

1 Rrustem Qehaja - Civil Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Pristina ‘Hasan Prishtina’,

Kosovo, rrustem.qehaja@uni-pr.edu.

2 Armend Ahmeti - Civil Law Department, Faculty of Law, University o f Pristina ‘Hasan Prishtina’,

armend_ahmeti@hotmail.com.

3 See in this regard Haxhi, Gashi, The Registration of Ownership and Other Real Rights in Kosovo: A

Critical Overview in Comparative Prospects, „Journal of Legal and Social Issues ‘LAW’”, no.

1-4/2015, published by the University of Pristina ‘Hasan Prishtina’, Faculty of Law, Pristina, 2016,

p. 73.