The Use of Surveying and Photogrammetric Court Evidence in the Usucaption Procedures for Proving the Acquisition of the Ownership of Real Estate

Abstract

Fulfilling the required prerequisites for acquisitive prescription (usucaption) such as uninterrupted possession and the lapse of time results in the acquisition of ownership. Both, in the stage of examining the case in respect of fulfilling the prerequisites for acquisitive prescription as well as in the stage of adjudicating in court proceedings, contemporary and archive surveying and photogrammetric evidence plays a vital role. There are situations when the socalled "acquisitive prescription map", prepared by a licensed land surveyor, showing the area being the subject of the petition and the state of cadastral boundaries as of the day of acquiring the ownership right, is necessary. The aim of this paper is the analysis of the applicability of present and archival aerial photos, maps, especially cadastral orthophotomaps and other documents gathered in the state geodetic and cartographic resource as a proof of holding an immovable, justifying the data of acquiring the right by acquisitive prescription and showing the scope of possession. In fact, the combined analysis of all the above-mentioned evidence accessible for a given area gives complete information about a property being in its entirety or in part a matter of proceedings for ascertaining the acquisition of the ownership of a real property by acquisitive prescription. Moreover, this publication describes some of the problems encountered in the professional practice of court experts during preparation of acquisitive prescription maps.

Do geographic location and historical conditions affect the quality and availability of open cadastral data? From early cadastral maps till now

“…The breakthrough came only in 2004, when Poland was admitted to the EU, which resulted in an in ux of funds for infrastructure development. The digitisation of analogue cadastral maps began at that time and moved rapidly, often combined with a comprehensive modernisation of the cadastre resource (Cienciała and Florek-Paszkowski, 2019). The major project that led to the modernisation of the cadastre database and the integration of its resources with other public registers was the development of the Integrated Property Information System (ZSIN).…”

“…In recent years, there has been a great deal of dynamism of change in the Polish legal foundations concerning land surveying and related issues (Bieda et al, 2013). The Regulation on land and building registration issued in 2001 (Regulation, 2001) was amended several times in the following years (in , 2015(in , 2017(in , 2019(in , 2021(in ) (Regulation, 2021. Subsequent amendments to the Regulation introduced considerable changes that had a signi cant impact on the real estate cadastre base.…”