Study Of The Legal System Of Water Rights

Water resource is a pretty valuable natural resource that is related to a nation's subsistence and development. However, in our country, water resource is very limited and unevenly spread. It will badly affect our country's sustainable development if we don't cope with water resource problem properly. With the demand on water increasing rapidly and the competition among water usage becoming more drastic, many developed countries begin to rethink their legal systems on water resource management. Under this circumstance, the legal system of water rights, which is applicable to Market Economy System, gradually comes into being. The subsistent law concerning water rights is very poor, so does theory about water rights. Furthermore, the existing Right of Things, and even the civil law are all neglecting the nature and the request of water rights. In the meantime, establishing private law that can adjust water resource will induce civil law well adapted to the development of modern society, and help realize the transform of traditional civil law into a modern one. Therefore, it is very meaningful to do some research on the legal system of water rights. In this paper, based on the current research status of water rights, it discusses the basic theory and the establishment of legal system of water rights in detail by means of historic, comparison and systematic analysis.It mainly divided into five sections.First section addresses the concept and property of water rights. It first examines that water rights does not contain the ownership of water resource. Then based on the description of previous development of water rights, it illustrates the foundation and the process of the emergence of water rights. Concerning the concept, it defines that water rights is a rights that can obtain the usage and proceeds of water in and under ground. Concerning the property, it defines water rights as new beneficial right of material in the civil law. It discusses the value and character of this definition, and concludes that water rights is a private rights bearing some property of public rights. Finally, it describes the relation of water rights and correlative rights.Second section is about the legal relationship of water rights. It discusses the subject object and main contents of water rights. It concludes that in principle, the subject of water rights should be incorporation, enterprise, corporation aggregate and natural person, but not government organization, and that the object of water rights is resources water and product water. It mainly discusses the type of water rights, and concludes that the type is determined by the agreement of the owner of water resource and the owner of water rights.Third section probes into the effectiveness of water rights. It mainly focuses on the priority of water rights. The priority includes the principle of first in time, first in rights and riparian rights. The principle of first in time, first in rights means that whoever appropriates water resource obtaining the water rights. The principle of riparian rights means determining the adscription of water rights according to the ownership and usage rights of riparian. In this paper it presents that in our country, in the establishment process of water rights system, we should adopt the principle of first in time, first in rights.Forth section discusses the acquiring and transferring of water rights. It introduces three different modes about the acquiring of water rights. The transferring of water rights means is very necessary, while the water rights that can be transferred must satisfy some conditions.Fifth section analyzes the establishing of the legal system of water rights. It examines the principle and the method of establishing the legal system of water rights and the lawmaking modes of the legal system of water rights. Part of Jus Rerem admits water rights is a kind of the right of thing, and defines it as a new one, but it regards the system of water rights as single law.