A Comparative Study of the Method of Determining and Paying Compensation in Land Acquisition for Public Projects in Iranian and French Law
Keywords:
land acquisition, fair compensation, comparative law, fair price, full compensationAbstract
Land acquisition for public projects is a key instrument for the development of national infrastructure, requiring a balance between the public interest and the protection of private property rights. The payment of fair and timely compensation plays a central role in legitimizing such measures. In Iran, there are numerous challenges regarding the determination of precise criteria, the timing of payment, and the enforcement guarantees of compensation, which lead to prolonged delays and a lack of proportionality between compensation and the real value of properties. This study aims to identify the shortcomings of the Iranian legal system and provide practical solutions for its improvement by conducting a comparative examination of the methods of determining and paying compensation in Iranian and French law. The research method is descriptive-analytical with a comparative approach, based on the study of documentary and library sources, content analysis of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and a comparative analysis of the two legal systems. The findings indicate that French law, based on the principle of “full compensation” and through the use of diverse valuation methods, including the comparative method, income-based method, and replacement-cost method, has established a coherent and efficient framework for determining compensation. The French institutional system, including conciliation commissions and specialized courts, resolves approximately 40% to 50% of disputes at the settlement stage. By contrast, the Iranian legal system faces ambiguity in defining “fair price,” weakness in covering consequential damages, failure to observe the principle of prior payment, and inefficiency in its institutional structure. The study recommends that the Iranian legal system be improved through reforming the Law on the Method of Purchase and Acquisition, establishing a mechanism to compensate for currency depreciation, creating conciliation commissions, and upgrading the expert valuation system.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Hamid Davoodpour (Author); Hossein Mehrpour (Corresponding author); Alireza Rajabzadeh (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
