Forest Right From The Perspective Of Property Law

The problem of forest rights is originated in the practice of the forestry management and the reform of collective forest rights in our country. It is clearly regulated that the forest resources can only be state-owned or collective-owned in our Constitution. So how to promote the development of the forest productivity is an important basis problem under the case of public ownership.The system of forest right is by giving the rights of using the forest resources to the non-owners outside of the nation and collective and supporting their self-management on the basis of clear property rights, through which should improve the utilization of the forest resources and promote the sustainable development of forest ecology and environment. The reform pratice of forest right system for half a century in our country has proved that the public ownership of forest resources does not affect the forest rights to be treated as a kind of private rights. Only from the perspective of civil law and property law, it is possible to determine the effectiveness of forest rights in law, as well as to provide appropriate regalations and legal remedies for the forest rights. Defining the concept of the forest rights is the starting point and basis research in the meaning of the private right. Through summarizing the mean of "forest rights" in our country's laws and policies from its appearance to now, it can be found that the focus of the research of forest right and the aims of the legal regulations include that the subject is is only natural persons, artificial persons and other organizations which are outside the state and collectives, the objects of forest rights are the forest resources, including forest, woodland, trees and other forest resources attached to them, and the content of forest rights is the property law, the rights of forest resources including possession, use, benefit and appropriate disposition.Therefore, in concept, the forest right is a special usufruct which aimed at the purpose of using the specific forest resources and based on the ownership of forest resources.In our country's property system, the forest right has the same legal hierarchy with other usufructs of natural resources, just as mining rights, fishing rights, water rights, because of they have the same or similar object features and regulated functions. But compared with the existing usufructs of natural resources and land (usufructuary of management of land, superficies, servitude, etc.), the forest right must be regulated as an independent type in the chapter of usufruct because of its unique legal characteristics. Meanwhile, the forest right has an unique and systematic structure in its internality because of its object's compound constitutes, including the right to use forest land, forest tree management rights and forest management rights which are interconnection and mutually independent based on their object relations and constitute the lower concept system of the forest rights. Based on those associations, the forest rights is a independent right concept that its function is to unifying all the specific rights in order to reflect the forest resources as an ecosystem of independent existence, and coordinating its internal conflicts and contradictions within the specific right types. The forest right also has the force adeffects as exclusivity, priority, replevy, claim and other property effects. But by the impact of the object matter and right character, the force adeffects is clearly different with that of the common property rights.To achievement those force adeffects, in our country, both public and private laws provide some legal protection and remedies for the forest rights.But for now it seems that these remedies are still unsystematic and the legislations is not clear, which should be improved.Furthermore, there are many important problems such as the establishment and transfer and elimination of the forest right during the construction of the forest right in the property legal system. On the establishment of forest rights, the different effectiveness of the forest rights registration is determined by the different forest ownership. After the initial allocation of forest resources, the law should regulate the the transfer of forest right and waive the unnecessary restrictions in the existing law in order to encourage more participation and improve the efficiency in the development and utilization of forest resources.Now, there is no clearly regulation for the elimination of the forest rights in our legal systems. But according to the theory of property law, the forest right may eliminate due to the specific legal facts occurred and terminate the the legal relationship of the forest right.These legal systems about forest right should be clear in the property law. At the same time, other separate regulations just as the forest law should also regulate the specific issues related to the forest right. Through the division and coordination of the different legal departments, it is possible to contruct the legal system of the forest right in the usufruct system.