Property Law Assignment

969 Words4 Pages
QUESTION: The Constitutional protection of property poses a delicate balance between private individual rights and public interests and if not carefully done may result in prejudices. Discuss with particular reference to Land laws and rights development in Zimbabwe since 1980. {30 Marks}. The Constitution is the model of the society which poses a gentle balance between private individual rights and public interests. Most Constitutions usually provide a guarantee for the existence and protection of individual property rights, and on the other hand provide the possibility and the limits for state interference with those individual property rights, and the Zimbabwean Constitution is no exception. In respect of this there are laws which interfere with individual property rights in order to protect other people’s rights as well as the general public, for instance, Land Acquisition Act, Agricultural Land Settlement Act, among others. Consequently, the Constitutional guarantee of property is never absolute such that if not carefully observed and executed it may result in prejudices. With reference to Zimbabwean land laws since 1980 it might be, as a matter of opinion, an overstatement to say that the constitutional protection of property poses a balance between private individual protection of property and public interest as will be expounded in the essay. To begin with the Constitutional protection of property itself, section 16 of the Zimbabwean Constitution clearly states that no property of any description or interest or right therein shall be compulsorily acquired. This ensures that property rights, be they credit rights or real rights or limited real rights, in respect of servitudes for example, are protected by the law. This gives guarantee to owners that they have absolute rights to
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