Private Estate Dispossession for Public Utility in Palestinian Legislation (Comparative Study)

This research attempts to discuss the regulation of expropriation of private property for the benefit of public interest based on violating the right of individual property granted by various international constitutions and charters. The concept of this regulation may be mixed with other regulations such as nationalization, confiscation, and extortion since these concepts include aggression against the right of property. However, they differ relative to the subject, objective or procedures. The expropriation of private property regulation includes only the real estates when there is a material right in the land which is to be expropriated. Therefore, the expropriation is not in effect on the material right only but on the land itself. The objective of the expropriation of private property shall not violate the benefit of public interest. Unfortunately, various laws fail to supply a specific definition of the benefit or limit its idea, leaving its assessment to the administration. When establishing a public project, the administration holds the assessment authority and the expropriation of property is carriedout by an administrative decree that contains all the legal elements represented by jurisdiction, locus, form, objective and cause. The Appropriation Law No. (2) of the year 1953 specifies the expropriation of private property regulation for specific purposes such as building hospitals with specific procedures that must be observed strictly. Otherwise, the decree may suffer from one of the legal defects. In addition, the Law of Organizing Cities, Villages and Buildings No. (79) of the year 1966 specifies expropriation of private property for purposes of constructing or widening streets, parks, public parking, or schools with procedures that differ from expropriation for other purposes. In this sense, it is not subject to the decree of the cabinet, publication and approval of the president. In addition, expropriation of (3 0%) of land is free for the purpose of achieving the benefits from such objectives. The research also discusses the guarantees granted by the law in the field of expropriation of private property whether for the capability of the prejudiced victim to challenge the administrative decree and to demand its abolishment if one of its legal elements is missing before competent courts — the Supreme Court of Justice — or to guarantee just reimbursement of expropriation of property decree. The basis of the administration responsibility is based on the foundation of risks consequences since the administration carries out a project permitted by the modified basic law of the year 2005. The appropriation law No. (2) of the year 1953 regulates the elements that must be observed by related parties when evaluating the sum of reimbursement.