Expropriation law

Factual and Legal Regimes in De Facto Appropriation: The Contemporary Meaning of the 1983 Divide

Abstract

This article treats together the factual and legal forms of de facto appropriation, the pre- and post-9 October 1983 limitation regimes, and Court of Cassation criteria for the assessment of compensation.

De facto appropriation is among the most technical chapters of Turkish immovable-property law. The institution rests, on the one hand, on the content of the right of property guaranteed by Articles 35 and 46 of the Constitution and, on the other, on the administration’s public-service justification.

Factual taking is proved by occupation and allocation; legal taking by plan and restriction. The 1983 divide remains the historical spine of the limitation debate. Statutory amendments and Constitutional Court annulments nevertheless require that spine to be re-read in every concrete file.

The date of taking, the character of the property and the selection of comparables determine whether the judgment is sound. This article aims to present systematically the intersection of those elements in judicial practice.