Summary

Within the last 150 years, the evolution of law in Estonia has undergone three revolutionary periods during which the whole body of legislation was amended.
The effect of rules valid in different times is particularly strongly felt in legislation concerning ownership reform. In interpreting such rules, lawyers must be familiar with legislation which was in force in the Soviet Union and tsarist Russia and legislation which is currently in force in the Republic of Estonia.
The author mainly focuses on analysing the principles of the Baltic Provincial Code Volume III, better known as the Baltic Private Law Act. Drawing on examples of the activities of courts and the authorities in Estonia in carrying out the ownership reform, the author points out that wrong legislation has often been applied or that legislation has been interpreted incorrectly. Frequently, lawyers tend to forget that legislation has regularly been amended in the course of history and they fail to analyse the content of legislation in force at a particular time.