Look, I have written many times, and others have as well, that the new Civil Code is not just about goodwill and it’s actually not about LGBT; it’s simply the most toxic and vivid story there, but in the context of harm to the country as a whole, there are much more frightening stories.
I’m talking, for instance, about the right of possession and the “bona fide acquirer,” which essentially gives judges the freedom to legitimize the process of property grabbing.
It’s understandable that you can be the most heterosexual, most masculine of men or a woman who knows that the man is the head, and she is the neck, but the fact is that the real head now is the head of the court, and the neck is the civil code.
Literally one example is Article 231, p.3:
“A contract is void from the moment the other party receives a statement of contestation if, within a reasonable time but no later than six months from the date of receipt, such party does not contest the invalidity in writing or does not file a lawsuit for declaring the contract valid“.
This is a raider’s paradise, and the agricultural committee of the Verkhovna Rada specifically refers to this point as one that “creates real prerequisites for mass bad faith actions to invalidate land acquisition contracts“. It’s not about marriage between a man and a woman; it’s about the fact that land deals no longer work.
Article 568 of the project:
“Possession is considered the exercise of factual control over a thing, allowing a person to effectively dominate it, regardless of whether this person has a legal title to the thing.”
Article 577 p. 2 p. 2 regarding immovable property:
“through occupation, enclosure, cultivation, or other actions ensuring effective control.”
In other words, if someone just comes to a forest, encloses a plot with a fence, and starts building a mansion, they have the right of possession. The agricultural committee of the Verkhovna Rada directly calls this provision “legalization of self-seizure“.
This is not about genders at all, and I understand why the defenders of the code are so pleased when people try to fight the Civil Code through minority rights and gender stories. Because no matter how many genders there might be, there are still fewer than hectares of agricultural land in the country. Gender possession doesn’t entail financial benefits, but land possession, if its owner is on the front line, missing, or documents destroyed by war, entails tremendous prospects for financial gain for both land usurpers, courts, and lawyers who will accompany all the hellish litigation opened up by the new Civil Code.
So, it’s about the inviolability of property rights in general. It’s about the inviolability of contracts in general. It’s a powerful document that questions your belief that you own anything at all.
And this is a tectonic problem that disrupts both the rights of every Ukrainian and the overall investment attractiveness of Ukraine as a state. No one will want to invest in anything here because the right to control investments is blurred and uncertain.
This is the main achievement of the new Civil Code, and it makes its adoption a disaster.
I understand that the authors may be pleased to say they are great lawyers, while activists who understand nothing protest against them. However, the fact is that lawyers and specialists also strongly protest and give this code an extremely poor evaluation. A judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court — is she not a lawyer even by Stefanchuk and Fris standards? Well, she is categorically against it and provides extensive speeches and legal assessments on this matter.
This is not a battle of genders against lawyers; it is a battle of people who can read against people who mistakenly claim they can write.
On May 17, there will be another protest in Kyiv regarding the Code. I cannot urge you to come for a wide range of reasons, but if you somehow independently feel the desire to come without my prompting, it would be a wise and correct desire.
Here is more detailed info about the event:
Needle: Petition against Stefanchuk’s Civil Code. Why does it concern everyone?
A petition was registered on the website of the President’s Office on the second attempt, calling to prevent the adoption of the Civil Code. This is a chance to stop the draft law No. 15150, which, instead of a European future, pushes Ukraine into the “Middle Ages”.
Sign the petition and ask your family and friends to do the same.
On the cover: On May 10 in Ivano-Frankivsk, there was a protest on the square near the regional military administration against the project of the new Civil Code of Ukraine No. 15150. Photo: Suspilne Ivano-Frankivsk
