How can the public functions of land be enforced by the constitution?

Tanka, Endre

Keywords: value-based land estate policy, sustainability, public goods, arable land as a national asset

Our changing era makes it indispensable to sustainability that governments employ statutory instruments to ensure that the structure of land ownership supports the public functions of land as a basis for the organisation of the society and economy. The appropriate legal pillar for this purpose could be a constitutional arrangement by which land comprising the territory of the State of Hungary is deemed a national asset regardless of the form of its ownership. On the basis of its constitutional right of self-determination with regard to the land comprising its territory, the state sets forth regulations on land acquisition and land use and may impose restrictions on the same to protect public interests.
Now that the EU has extended the land purchase ban applicable to foreigners, three more years are available to develop a land estate policy serving public interest; the quality of land as a national asset could be the basis on which the policy regulating agricultural businesses is developed, as well as a land protection act which enforces the new values.

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