Acquisitive Prescription of Moveable Property under Russian Law

Abstract

Amid the welcome increase in comparative property law scholarship of recent times, particularly in Europe, Russia has been somewhat neglected. This article seeks to provide a start in bringing the rules and policy choices of Russian property law to the attention of an English-language readership. Its subject is acquisitive prescription of moveable property. Here the law as set out in the Russian Civil Code has been the subject of a series of court decisions. The principal analytical instrument chosen to act as a comparator is the Scottish Law Commission’s Report on Prescription and Title to Moveable Property of 2012. The recommendations made in that as yet unimplemented report were significantly influenced by the laws of other jurisdictions, although not Russian law. The article while unsurprisingly discovering commonalities given the shared Roman heritage also finds striking differences. These deserve consideration by legislators in both countries.