Thinking Of The Improvement Of China’s Land Expropriation Procedures

In the process of urbanization, it is inevitable to use large quantities of land to satisfy the need of construction. Therefore, governments around the world usually acquire the land for public construction by means of land expropriation. Current law system on land expropriation was established in the planned economy period. However, with the rapid development of economy, the original system has exposed serious flaws during implementation process. What is worse, conflicts and disputes raised by land expropriation are on the rise. Land expropriation procedures refer to the ways and steps that are conducted in accordance with the established rules with the participation of two sides, i.e. the expropriator and the land owner. It is one of administrative procedures, usually including application, examination and approval, notice and notification, compensation and execution. The building of land expropriation procedures is of great value in the following aspects. First of all, it can prevent abuse of power in the process of land expropriation. Secondly, it can protect the rights and interests of land owners. Thirdly, it can improve the administrative efficiency. Finally, it can build trust between the government and the public.The characteristic of "public interests" on land expropriation wins legal status for the right to access land. Every country has stipulated its procedure to identify public interests at the stage of application as well as examination and approval. In China, the lack of such a procedure leads to the absence of meaningful investigation in the process of examination and approval. In addition, land owners are deprived of the right to participate and supervise the whole process, and thus it results in abuse of power in acquiring land. Our country should set up identification and supervision procedures as soon as possible, and clarify the right of examination and approval in acquiring land so as to make sure land expropriation fair and just.As for compensation and execution procedures, whether they are reasonable has a direct influence on the vital interests of land owners. Recently, the main reason in all the conflicts and disputes triggered by land expropriation is that farmers are dissatisfied with the compensation program. The reason why the compensation standard is so low is that the pricing mechanism or formation mechanism of compensation program is far from reasonable.Participation procedure refers to land owners take part in the process of land expropriation, which is an essential factor throughout the whole process of land expropriation, i.e. application, examination and approval, compensation and execution. Land owners’ right of participation embodies in their right to know and express views in the whole process. It calls for improving transparency in land expropriation. In the process of land expropriation, land owners’ right to participate in the procedure can’t be realized due to the imperfect notification procedure, no guarantee for farmers’right to know the matter, and the lack of sound hearing procedure. Therefore, it is essential to make the land expropriation known to the public. The government should publicize the purposes, reasons, inner working system of expropriation institution as well as the standard and result of compensation. In other words, to improve land expropriation procedures, it is of great significance to ensure land owners participate in the whole process, and to establish a sound notification and hearing system.Judicial and relief approach is the common choice of most countries to handle land disputes. In china, however, the judgment to disputes is made by administrative departments and the judicial process is, more often than not, excluded from the relief approach. Consequently, China can introduce judicial and relief approach and let judicial departments judge whether the land acquisition is legal and how to deal with disputes caused by compensation. This approach is beneficial to make sure the judgment fair and just and meanwhile safeguard the rights of land owners. Additionally, strengthening the degree of supervision after the land expropriation can guarantee the public interests.