Legal nature of the maritime domain

Sa？etak During nearly forty years after World War II in former Yugoslavia the idea of the right of self -management by ‘’associated labour organizations’’ over social ownership which had no titular was spread. That right was considered to be the supreme human right, even in respect of individuals. Private initiative in the sphere of production was not encouraged. With the fall of socialism in Yugoslavia, and with the demise of Yugoslavia itself, opposite trends grew up. The new capitalist class promotes the privatisation of everything, including the objects that have since Roman times been in usu communis, and as such extra commercium. The author of this paper opposed such trends already in 1994, when the war in Croatia was still raging. Instead of privatisation, he advocated the institute of granting concessions to natural and juridical persons in respect to some activities in the areas of maritime domain. However, in new drafting of legislation the institute of concessions over areas belonging to maritime domain tends to evolve close to the right to real property with loose State control over selling and buying or transferring granted rights to third persons. The aim of the present paper is to clarify basic legal concepts in this domain in order to avoid gross misunderstandings in Croatian legislation and practice. Being a coastal State in the Mediterranean with developing tourist industry, Croatia has a strong interest not only in preserving its maritime domain, but also in bringing up foreign investments