Measures to Protect Property Rights Through Lawsuits in Court

Legal owners can accurately identify the person they need to contact to claim their property, and it is also difficult for owners and legal possessors to find measures to prevent the transfer and dispersal of property from possessors without legal basis.

Third , the right holder can request compensation for damages caused by acts of infringement of ownership or possession rights. Unlike the two self-protection measures mentioned above, the most important thing for the owner or legal possessor to be able to take measures to request compensation from the person who infringed the ownership or possession rights is that there has been damage caused to the owner or legal possessor. The request for compensation for damages can be an independent request or combined with a request to reclaim property, or a request to stop the act that hinders the exercise of the rights of the owner or legal possessor. During the process of requesting compensation for damages, the entitled person will make a request for compensation items with a certain compensation level due to the property being partially or completely damaged, the property being destroyed, etc. The determination of the compensation level depends entirely on the calculation of the owner, the legal possessor on the basis of agreement and consent from the person being requested for compensation as well as having valid documents and receipts on the expenses spent to remedy the damage. Of course, if the compensation level is unreasonable, the owner, the legal possessor will hardly receive compensation from the person being requested. And in many cases, when property is lost or damaged, leading to the owner or legal possessor being unable to reclaim the property, they can request the person at fault for causing damage to the property to compensate, such as the case where the person to whom the owner has transferred the right to legal possession has transferred it to a third party without the owner's consent and the third party has lost the property. In a request for compensation for damage, the most important content to be

The main concern is the ability to compensate as well as the willingness of the person claimed to make compensation.

Thus, self-protection of ownership rights is a measure that the state recognizes for owners and legal possessors to take in order to immediately, quickly and effectively counteract those who threaten and are infringing on their rights to ownership and legal possession of property. At the same time, recognizing self-protection measures is also a way for the state to enhance the responsibility of owners and legal possessors to protect their property and interests. By promoting the responsibility of right holders throughout the process of exercising the right to protection, the awareness of owners and legal possessors of ownership and possession rights will be enhanced, helping them to continuously increase measures to protect property as well as enhance their sense of obligation when transferring the right to possession and use of property to another person.

Civil law stipulates measures to protect ownership rights, in addition to ensuring the rights of the subjects as well as the responsibilities of the owners and legal possessors, also contributing to reducing disputes at the Court and competent authorities so that disputes are quick, timely, saving time and costs as well as stabilizing order in civil exchanges. However, the effectiveness of using self-protection measures depends largely on the agreement and negotiation between the two parties as well as the awareness of the infringer, leading to many cases where self-protection measures are ineffective. And even when the two parties agree on resolving the dispute, the party requested to stop the behavior, return the property or compensate for damages agrees to comply with the request but then does not comply, there is no mechanism to force them to comply. In this case, the interests of the right holder are not guaranteed. Therefore, the law further recognizes

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Other measures to protect ownership rights that are more binding are to request the Court, other competent agencies and organizations to force the person who infringes on ownership rights and possession rights to return the property, stop the illegal act of obstructing the exercise of ownership rights and possession rights and to request compensation for damages. The measure with the highest guarantee is to choose the litigation path, through the Court to protect one's legal ownership and possession rights.

2.1.2. Measures to protect ownership rights through filing a lawsuit in Court

When the attempt to request the person who has violated the ownership rights to stop the illegal act, return the property or compensate for damages fails, the owner, the legal possessor, the possessor based on the land use right, the limited use right of adjacent real estate can choose the most secure solution, which is to sue the Court to request the person who has violated the law to stop the illegal act, return the property or compensate for damages. At this time, the owner, the legal possessor of the property will enter a litigation process according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code and must fully comply with those provisions to ensure that the Court will accept and resolve their request quickly and accurately. Therefore, in addition to ensuring the conditions on the content giving rise to the right to file a lawsuit in Court as specifically presented below, the owner, the legal possessor must satisfy the conditions on the order and procedures for lawsuits in court according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. As stated above, the protection of ownership rights by civil measures has a characteristic principle that the burden of proof belongs to the person making the request, not the responsibility of the Court. Therefore, in order to file a lawsuit, the owner or legal possessor must prepare sufficient grounds and documents to prove that his/her lawsuit is well-founded. Accordingly, in order to file a lawsuit in Court to resolve his/her request, the owner

Owners and legal possessors must know and fully comply with the following regulations:

Firstly , the owner, legal possessor, person with land use rights, limited use rights of adjacent real estate needs to gather all the papers and documents proving their status as the owner, legal possessor of the property, the subject whose ownership and legal possession rights are violated to become the plaintiff/plaintiff in the civil lawsuit. If the owner, legal possessor is the person who obtains the property according to the provisions of law, they need to have all the papers and documents proving that their ownership and legal possession actually arise on the legal basis, for example: The owner has a certificate of ownership for the property, documents proving the purchase, donation, inheritance of the property, the process of long-term management and use of the property, etc.; the legal possessor must provide documents and information about the owner's authorization, mortgage documents, loans, etc.; The person with the right to use the land must provide a certificate of land use rights, a decision on land allocation by the State, and documents proving a stable, long-term use process without disputes. According to the provisions of Point a, Clause 1, Article 168 of the amended and supplemented Civil Procedure Code, the Court shall return the petition in the case that " the Plaintiff does not have the right to file a lawsuit or does not have sufficient capacity for civil proceedings " [8]. A person becoming the legal owner or possessor of property is not limited by their age, capacity for conduct, or cognition. The law recognizes civil legal capacity.

- that is, “ the ability of an individual to have civil rights and civil obligations from birth until death ” [6, Article 14]. However, to become a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit, the plaintiff must be a person with full civil procedural capacity, that is, “ the ability to exercise civil procedural rights and obligations by himself or herself or to authorize a representative to participate in civil proceedings ” [7,

Article 57, Clause 2]. Thus, in addition to proving the status of owner, legal possessor, possessor of property based on land use rights, limited use rights of adjacent real estate, it is also necessary to prove that one has full capacity for civil proceedings. Accordingly, a person aged 18 or older, who has not lost civil capacity or has limited civil capacity, is a person with full capacity for civil proceedings. A person under 6 years old or a person who has lost civil capacity and does not have capacity for litigation, a person from 6 years old to under 15 years old, shall file a lawsuit and participate in the litigation process through a legal representative - a guardian as prescribed by law. In case the plaintiff is an agency or organization, their legal representative will be the person representing the agency or organization to participate in the litigation process. Documents proving procedural capacity can be identity cards, passports, documents proving guardian status, decisions recognizing legal representatives of agencies, organizations or legal authorization papers as prescribed.

Second , the plaintiff must identify the subject of the lawsuit - the defendant that he is aiming at. Depending on the purpose of the lawsuit, the person with the right to request the termination of the act, demand the return of property or compensation for damages, the subject of the lawsuit may be different. Identifying the defendant here includes providing documents proving that the defendant's act is an act of infringement of the plaintiff's right to ownership and legal possession, the name and contact address of the defendant to ensure that the Court can summon the defendant to Court after accepting the case. Similar to determining the status of the plaintiff above, in the case where the person performing the act of illegal obstruction, the act of possession without legal basis or causing damage is a person who does not have full civil act capacity or a person with limited civil act capacity, the legal representative will be the person representing the defendant to participate.

Litigation activities at the Court. Determining or not determining the contact information of the defendant in a civil lawsuit is important in helping the plaintiff choose the appropriate lawsuit request. At the same time, when determining full information about the defendant, the plaintiff determines the competent court agency to resolve the lawsuit to avoid the case where the lawsuit file is returned because it is not under the jurisdiction of the Court receiving the petition.

Third , the plaintiff needs to identify the Court that has the authority to resolve the lawsuit requesting the termination of acts obstructing the exercise of legal ownership and possession rights, requesting the recovery of property and requesting compensation for damages. Based on the provisions on the jurisdiction of the Court stipulated in Chapter III of the current Civil Procedure Code, the Court that has the authority to resolve at first instance the lawsuit requesting the termination of acts obstructing the exercise of legal ownership and possession rights, requesting the recovery of property and requesting compensation for damages is the District People's Court where the defendant resides as an individual, or where the defendant has its headquarters if the defendant is an agency or organization; the District Court where the real estate is located if the subject of the lawsuit is real estate; the District Court where the plaintiff resides in cases where the defendant's place of residence, head office, place of contract performance or according to the agreement of the two parties cannot be determined. The District Court shall not have jurisdiction to resolve the above lawsuit in case the litigant or the property is located abroad or requires judicial entrustment to a Vietnamese Consular agency abroad. In this case, the Provincial Court shall be the competent court to resolve the lawsuit.

Fourth , determine whether the statute of limitations for filing a civil lawsuit is still valid or not. This is also one of the bases for the Court to decide to accept the case or return the petition due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. According to the provisions of Clause 1

Article 159 of the Civil Procedure Code states: “ The statute of limitations for initiating a civil lawsuit is the time limit within which a subject has the right to initiate a lawsuit to request the Court to resolve a civil case to protect their infringed legitimate rights and interests; if that time limit expires, the right to initiate a lawsuit is lost, unless otherwise provided by law ” [8]. Clause 3, Article 159 of the Civil Procedure Code clearly states: “ The statute of limitations for initiating a civil lawsuit shall be implemented according to the provisions of law. In cases where the law does not provide for the statute of limitations for initiating a civil lawsuit, the following shall apply: a) Disputes over property ownership; disputes over reclaiming property managed or possessed by others; disputes over land use rights according to the provisions of the law on land shall not apply the statute of limitations for initiating a lawsuit; b) For disputes not falling under the provisions of Point a of this Clause, the statute of limitations for filing a civil lawsuit is two years from the date the individual, agency or organization becomes aware that their legitimate rights and interests have been violated ”[8]. Thus, the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit to reclaim property managed or possessed by another person will not apply, and the plaintiff may file a lawsuit in court at any time. Meanwhile, the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit to request the termination of an illegal act and to sue for compensation for damages is two years from the date the individual, agency or organization becomes aware that their legitimate rights and interests have been violated. Therefore, when subjects choose the method of civil lawsuit to request the defendant to stop the illegal act or compensate for damages, they must pay close attention to the time when they know their rights and interests have been violated and prove that from that time until the plaintiff submits the lawsuit to the competent Court, the statute of limitations for requesting the Court to resolve the civil case to protect their violated legitimate rights and interests is still valid.

Fifth , in order for the Court to accept and resolve the request of the owner, legal possessor, possessor based on land use rights, limited use rights of adjacent real estate, they must submit a petition to the Court.

to the competent Court according to the content and form prescribed in Article 164 of the Civil Procedure Code, including the following contents: Date, month, year of filing the petition; name of the Court receiving the petition; name and address of the petitioner; name and address of the person whose rights and interests are protected, if any; name and address of the defendant; name and address of the person with related rights and obligations, if any; specific issues requested by the Court to resolve for the defendant and the person with related rights and obligations; full name and address of the witness, if any; documents and evidence to prove that the petition is well-founded and legal; other information that the petitioner considers necessary for the settlement of the case; the petitioner is an individual who must sign or fingerprint; if the petition is filed by an agency or organization, the legal representative of that agency or organization must sign and stamp at the end of the petition. Along with the petition, the plaintiff must submit documents and evidence to prove that his/her requests are well-founded and legal. These include documents and evidence proving the status of the owner, legal possessor, possessor based on land use rights, adjacent real estate use rights; documents and evidence proving the civil procedural capacity of the plaintiff; documents and evidence proving the act of infringement of the defendant's legal ownership and possession rights, etc.

The above are the procedural conditions prescribed by law that the owner, the legal possessor, the possessor based on the right to use land, the right to use adjacent real estate must satisfy in order to be able to sue the competent Court to request the infringer to stop the illegal act, return the property or compensate for damages. However, depending on the actual status of the property as well as the rights that the right holder may or has been infringed, civil law stipulates the conditions in terms of content that the right holder must consider when deciding which request to choose to ensure that his or her rights and interests are protected to the highest level. Including:

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