The right to property and its protection are one of the most important areas of civil litigation in all developed and most developing countries. It is an indicator of the security of personal property of a citizen that is largely decisive in the analysis of the state of the legal field in a given state.
The protection of property rights, in accordance with domestic law, is nothing but an interconnected set of diverse regulatory and organizational measures aimed at restoring the violated rights of a citizen. The main methods of this process include proprietary and obligation measures.
The most difficult in their organization are the latter methods. They apply if the protection of property rights implies that the plaintiff and defendant at the time of the offense were bound by certain contractual obligations. Such situations have recently become quite commonplace in Russia, the violation of contracts every year is becoming increasingly widespread.
At the same time, proprietary methods are more common, which imply that the parties to civil relations did not bear any obligations to each other at the time the offense was committed. In this case, the protection of property rights may constitute the preparation of negative or vindication claims. It is also worth noting here that proprietary measures can only be applied to individually defined objects. If, during the process, it turns out that the thing has been irretrievably lost, the plaintiff can only rely on compensation for material and moral losses incurred by him.
Vindication lawsuit - this is the measure that implied the protection of property rights in Roman law. And at present, this method is considered the main one in the civil relations of most countries. By it is meant the claim of a person who is not the owner of this thing, to someone who owns it illegally. During the process, the plaintiff must prove his right to this object, that is, with the help of legal facts to argue his legal title.
During the process, quite often the question arises about the income that the illegal owner received (or could receive) during the time when the thing belonged to him. In this case, if the plaintiff proves his right to it, then he may demand compensation for all potential income. At the same time, the unlawful owner will most likely demand reimbursement of all expenses for the maintenance of this object.
The protection of property rights quite often involves the preparation of a negative claim. This legal document is a statement by the owner that there are certain obstacles to the exercise of the right to own, dispose or use this or that property. It is worth noting that negative claims do not have a statute of limitations under Russian law , so they can be brought at any time when the owner of an object discovers that his rights are being infringed. In addition, if the court satisfies his claim, the plaintiff has the right to demand from the defendant to compensate him for damage.