Usufruct law: origins, comparative legal analysis and prospects of the development in Russia

Introduction: the reform of modern civil legislation cannot be completed without the adoption of a package of amendments to the section of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation devoted to real rights. Moreover, the lack of a developed and consistent concept of real rights has a negative impact on the development of all related areas. Real rights are designed to solve strategic problems of state development, among which social issues are currently coming to the fore. In this regard, it is important to study individual real rights proposed for introduction into civil legislation in terms of their potential to promote not only the economic but also the social development of the country. This paper focuses on usufruct in the aspect of its historical identity, powerful functional message, and internationality. Purpose: the research aims to clarify the significance of real law1 regulation in solving nationally significant problems. Based on the achievements of foreign doctrine and legislation, we attempt to show the prospects of the introduction of usufruct in the Russian system of real rights. Methods: general (philosophical), general scientific, special scientific (including special legal) methods of cognition: dialectical, logical, historical, sociological, comparative-legal and formal-legal. Results: we have studied civil legislation of thirty countries of the world. The study has shown that the introduction of usufruct can have a positive social and economic effect, but only provided that the legislator does not deviate from the historically established concept of usufruct embodied in foreign law. Conclusions: the Draft of Section II of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation ‘Real Rights’ needs revision, with the initial social function of usufruct taken into consideration. It is necessary to work out a system of grounds for the emergence and termination of usufructuary rights, to introduce a mandatory notarial form of a contract for the establishment of usufruct, to provide for the possibility of establishing usufruct by virtue of law in relation to socially significant objects and on the basis of a court decision, to enshrine non-use of the right among the grounds for termination; to allow the establishment of usufruct in relation to citizens and legal entities, and not only non-profit organizations; to allow multiple usufructuaries; to describe in detail the rights and obligations of the owner and the usufructuary, including the duties of treating the property with care, and to indicate the possible limits of the disposal of the property by the usufructuary, including via transactions; to work out the rules for the exercise of the right of usufruct in relation to certain categories of objects, for example: property of minors, inheritance, agricultural land, forests, minerals, etc.