Summary

On 11 January 2005, the draft of the new Law of Succession Act passed its first reading in the Riigikogu, where one of the more important changes, compared to the current Law of Succession Act, is that the so-called receiving system, which is currently valid for acquiring an estate, is to be replaced by the so-called waiver system. The need for moving from a receiving system to a waiver system has been justified in many ways. One argument can also be found in the book written by Priidu Pärna, and published in spring 2004, titled “Asjaõigusseadus. Kommenteeritud väljaanne (Law of Property Act. Commented Publication” (second print, with additions and modifications), where in commenting § 38 of the Law of Property Act, he also examines the institution of successor possession. P. Pärna considers this norm to be problematic in the Estonian legal system. The reason for the problem, according to P. Pärna, is that the norm works primarily in the case of a successor legal system that is based on the principle of waiving the estate.

The article explains the meaning of the institution of possession, including successor possession, and mainly in relation to the acquisition of an estate by the successor. In justifying the presented standpoints, the law, and journals, of four countries – Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Estonia – have mainly been used. Of these countries, the waiver system in acquiring estates is in use in two, Germany and Switzerland, and in the remaining two, Italy and Estonia, it is the receiving system. Through the comparison of these legal systems, the author calrifies the mutual relationship between possession and succession.