Restitution of agricultural and forest land in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

This paper examines the solutions provided by the Serbian legislator for the restitution process, with a specific focus on agricultural and forest land. It traces the origins of this process to state interventionist measures such as agrarian reform and confiscation, which led to the creation of an agrarian fund used for land redistribution in line with socialist ideology. Although initial signs of the restitution process appeared in the early 1990s, no significant progress was achieved until the early 2000s. Rather than adopting a  single, uniform law on restitution, the Serbian legislator chose to regulate the process through three separate laws: one addressing confessional restitution, another one dealing with general restitution, and a third one governing the return of property confiscated from Holocaust victims to Jewish communities. This paper outlines the key substantive and procedural provisions of these restitution laws and addresses certain contentious issues that have arisen during their practical implementation. The analysis is supported by the case law of the Restitution Agency and domestic courts. The conclusion emphasises that, despite its duration, the restitution process has yielded considerable results, particularly with respect to the restitution of agricultural land, where restitution in kind has been achieved in the vast number of cases.