Discussion On The Case Of Wuliangye Wine Cellars’ Ownership Dispute

On June18th,2010,the Yins who live in Yi Bin sued Wuliangye Group,and required it toreturn "Yin Chang Fa Sheng" wine cellars and the ancestral home of18.17㎡.Until then,thepublic became aware that the wine cellars which dated from the Ming Dynasty had beenleased all the time.It has been more than2years since the case was brought to the court.But ithas not yet been settled down.Involving the problems left over by the history makes the casemore complicated,and the parties stick to their arguments.In this paper, an research is carried out from law perspective to analyze the case based onthe details of this event. Also, the related countermeasures are also put forward in order tothrow light upon this case. The article is divided into three parts:Part1:the whole story of ownership dispute of the wine cellars and the problem itreflected."Yin Chang Fa Sheng" wine cellars had been leased to Wuliangye Group and itspredecessor from1952to the end of2009.During this period,the country was experiencing"Public-private Partnership","the country leased private houses under operating leasearrangements","Cultural Revolution" and so on.The ownership status of the wine cellars inthese key historical events and the relationship among the wine cellars,the houses on theground and the land are the focus of our research.Part2:analysis on the legal issues of wine cellars ownership dispute.The ownership ofthe wine cellars is a historical legacy,it should not only be analyzed from a historical view,butalso be interpreted with the modern property law.First,the wine cellars have always belongedto the Yins.It was the private houses that the country leased,not the wine cellars.The winecellar is not attached to the houses.It was even before "the Public-private Partnership" thatwine cellars had been leased to Wuliangye Group.None of the Yins engaged in the productionand business activities of the wine industry at that time,so there was no one can co-operatewith the public.The454th document released by Yi Bin government is the writtenconfirmation to the wine cellars.It can’t be revoked in the absence of the contraryevidence;secondly,the wine cellars are the property protected by Property Law with thecharacteristics of uniqueness,independence and specific.They have their own ownership.Theyare independent from the houses on the ground from the view of the value,functionality andthe property rights transfer rules.The wine cellars do not constitute appendages to thehouses;Thirdly,China’s real property registration system acknowledges validity after registration.Although the Yins did not acquire the land use rights where the wine cellarslocate.But it cannot be denied that the Yins obtained the wine cellars ownership on base ofinheritance.And the behavior of collecting rent can reflect the wine cellars’ ownership fromthe side.The doctrine of "the land and the houses on that land belong to one person" of ourstate lead the land use rights between the wine cellars’ and the houses’ on the ground intoconflict.How to solve this problem is the key of this case.Part3:solutions to the wine cellars’ ownership dispute.First,the wine cellars’ ownershipare indeed the Yins’.It is the most important issue to confirm the wine cellars’ ownership inthis case.In response to lack of the real property registration in China,establishing a unifiedreal property registration can be very useful,thus unifying real property registration authorityand including enormous value property such as wine cellars in the range of real propertyregistration,in order to avoid the occurrence of similar disputes;Second,standardizingadministrative acts.Administrative authorities should be fair,impartial and efficient accordingto the law involving the relevant historical issues;Thirdly,because the wine cellars has beenlisted by Wuliangye Group,the best solution to this case is the Yins exchanging it for thestocks in accordance with the principle of balancing of interests.