From world heritage to environmental patrimony

• Author: Andrei Dutu Buzura
• Position: Ecological University of Bucharest, Bucharest - Romania
• Pages: 42-48

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 4 (2013), pp. 42-48

42

FROM WORLD HERITAGE TO ENVIRONMENTAL PATRIMONY

A. Duu-Buzura

Andrei Duu-Buzura

Faculty of Law,

Ecological University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

*Correspondence: Andrei Duu-Buzura, 1G Vasile Milea Blv., Sector 6, Bucharest, Romania

E-mail: contact@andreidutu.net

Abstract

Environmental law has proven itself to be a major challenge to all traditional

branches of law, given its “horizontal” perspective and functioning, by encompassing

elements and institutions from almost all of them, and by offering new insights and

approaches to long consecrated concepts and juridical mechanisms.

The relation between civil law, one of the oldest fields of regulation of any legal

system, and environmental law, a creation of the late XXth century, have proven itself to be

not only intriguing and original, but also necessary, in view of the creation of the juridical

structures fit to face the imperatives of the social, scientific and economic developments

currently in course. By interfering with elementary concepts, such as property right and

patrimony, environmental law has brought up the opportunity of creating new juridical

theoretical structures, corresponding to the actual necessities of the beginning of the XXIst

century.

This paper proposes construct following these lines, the environmental patrimony,

having as theoretical models both the concept of patrimony, consecrated by civil law, and

common or natural heritage, as accepted in international law. As practical aspects, we turned

to the environmental protection mechanisms already in existence, thus to give a more

complete and functional structure as possible.

Keywords: environment, patrimony, property right, absolute, limitations, owner,

titular, holder, heritage, nature, international, pollution, domain, tradition, innovation, civil

regime, environmental regime, science.

Introduction. Property, patrimony, heritage.

Despite the absolute character, unanimously accepted, of the property right, as it has

been consecrated by the elementary regulations of any civil code legal system, all along the

second half of the XXth century, thee limitations and the restrictions imposed upon it have

exponentially grown, apparently depriving the owner of numerous prerogatives regarding his

own goods. A great deal of these limitations have their origins in regulations regarding

environmental protection; in this sense, a good example resides in the Romanian Constitution

of 1991, at article 44 paragraph 7, as revised in 2003, which states that “the property right

obliges to the respect of the encumbrances related to environmental protection and assuring

good neighborhood, and also to the respect the other encumbrances which, according to law

or custom, are charged to the owner.

From the contents of these provisions, it ensures that preset regulations pertinent both

to environmental and urbanism law have a significant role in the limitation of the

aforementioned prerogatives, on the purpose of assuring a common objective which,

according to the law maker, justifies all the detriments to the property right. As long as there

are accepted “limitations” and/or “restrictions” of any nature, we appreciate that they do

not actually interfere with the base nature of the property right.