Land Code

in the USSR, the basic form of the systematization of lartd legislation in the Union republics. The first Soviet land code—the land code of the RSFSR—was adopted on Oct. 30, 1922, at the fourth session of the ninth convocation of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and took effect on Dec. 1, 1922; V. I. Lenin supervised and directly participated in the drawing up of the code. The main goal of the land code was the regulation of land use by peasants. Between 1922 and 1929 similar land codes were adopted by other Union republics. With the transition to the complete collectivization of agriculture, the land codes of the Union republics lost their significance.

On the basis of the Basic Principles of Land Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics of 1968, new land codes came into force in all Union republics in 1970–71.

The Land Code of the RSFSR, consisting of 11 parts (140 articles), was adopted on July 1 and took effect on Dec. 1, 1970. Part 1 (General Provisions) states the goals of the land code, defines the scope of land legislation, establishes the fundamental provisions concerning state land ownership and the single state land fund, and correlates jurisdiction over the regulation of land relations in the USSR and in the RSFSR and its member autonomous soviet socialist republics. Part 1 also defines the procedure for allocating land to users, for withdrawing it for state or public needs, for using land for surveying and prospecting, and for compensating land users for losses. Finally, Part 1 establishes the rights and responsibilities of land users and the grounds for terminating the right to use land.

Parts 2 to 7 are devoted to questions of the legal treatment of the various categories of land: agricultural land, land for population centers, industries, transport, health resorts, national preserves, and other nonagricultural purposes, state forest land, state waters, and state reserve land. Part 8 deals with questions relating to the conducting of land surveys, Part 9 with state land tenure, Part 10 with the procedure for settling land disputes, and Part 11 with responsibility in the event of violations of land legislation.