The Constitutional Regulation of Disposal Rights over Agricultural Lands

Abstract

The right of disposal is one of the principal real rights associated with agricultural land. It grants its holder the authority to dispose of Amiri (state-owned) land assigned through the Tapu registration system or granted under the Lazma system, by exploiting or benefiting from it in all manners prescribed by law. The holder owns only the right of disposal, not the title to the land itself, since the true owner is the State, which retains the authority to create and confer various rights over such land through the legal mechanism of delegation. Consequently, the holder derives authority over the delegated property from a legal rule that both establishes and limits this right in accordance with its social function.

The legislature's discretionary power in regulating disposal rights is constrained by the constitutional limits imposed upon it. In particular, legislative regulation must not result in the effective confiscation of such rights through expropriation without fair compensation.

Accordingly, constitutional courts play a crucial role in maintaining a balance between protecting the rights of individuals whose disposal rights have been infringed through the abuse of governmental authority and safeguarding the State's rights against unlawful encroachments committed by holders of disposal rights over State-owned land under the guise of legality.