The Legal Regulation of Neighbourly Water use in Ukraine: Development Prospects

Abstract

The article is devoted to some questions of the legal adjusting of neighbourliness
relations. Neighbourly water use should be defined as the use of water resources aimed at meeting
the needs of owners or tenants of neighbouring land parcels. The regulation of neighbourly water
use has historically been an inseparable part of neighbour law. Regulations of this kind were
contained in many historically significant Ukrainian legal documents, including “The Statutes of
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania”. Currently, the regulation of the use of water resources mainly
comes under the sphere of public law. Consequently, the current Land Code of Ukraine does not
contain regulations of this kind. Nevertheless, a study of international legislation and regulation
policies on neighbourly relations emphasizes the necessity to legislate on the private aspects of
neighbourly water use. The findings of the study has made it possible to formulate the proposals
aimed at improving the current legislation on this issue.