Rebuilding Property Law for a Democratic Market System: Lithuanian Example

Abstract

The core area of private law – private property – was seen as a major social evil within the communist regime. For this reason, under the former economic circumstances, Soviet property law was reduced to a caricature of comprehensive Western property law. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism, economically stressed Eastern European countries, including Lithuania, had to deal with Soviet ‘heritage’ and extensively reform their legal systems in order to facilitate economic transition into the market system. A crucial part of this was the reform of property law – the legal cornerstone of the market economy. Even though it was not easy, it was mostly successful, and today the Lithuanian economy, integrated in the EU single market, is flourishing partly due to its property law. The article presents the Lithuanian experience in the process of rebuilding its property law and describes its content. The process of transition, although successful overall, faced several failures. Those failures created some systemic problems that are felt even to this day. However, the remaining challenges seem much less significant compared to those that were dealt with during the crucial transition decade; therefore, it is only a question of time before the Lithuanian legal system, supported by the consistent influence of European legal culture and national determination, overcomes them.