Civil Code of Eritrea.

This Civil Code of 2015 replaces the Proclamation No. 2/1991, which enacted the Transitional Civil Code of Eritrea on 15 September 1991. The Code is divided into 5 Books (Persons, Family, Successions, Property, Obligations). The primary objective of the Civil Code is to enable persons to clearly understand their rights and duties from the moment of birth to death and provide binding rules to all their important activities. Secondly, the Civil Code provides protection, unity and harmony to the natural and basic unit of the society - the family. Thirdly, by providing for simplified and reliable economic transactions, it protects interests of citizens thereby insuring national interest. Book 1 is about, among other things, civil status and right of persons and certain legal entities such as associations. Groupings formed with a view to securing or sharing profits (including cooperatives) shall be subject to the provisions of the Commercial Code. Book 4 is about ownership and other property rights such as usufruct. Book 5 is about contractual and non-contractual obligations and about special contracts and dispute resolution. The Civil Code declares every natural person to be capable of performing all the acts of civil life unless he or she is declared incapable by the law.
PROPERTY AND REAL RIGHTS - Provisions of the Civil Code regarding property deal, among other things, with, general matters regarding property, special rights related to immovable property including water rights, right of way, obligations of (farmer) tenants, domestic use of land, co-ownership, servitudes, management and use of land, and collective exploitation of property. Art, 2078 requires a farmer-tenant to exploit the land and keep it in a good state of productivity. The lessor may require the termination of the lease where the farmer-tenant does not fulfil such obligation. The contracting party who has the direction of the exploitation shall decide on the nature and manner of the cultivation to be undertaken (Art. 2079). The Civil Code contains detailed rules about the lease of agricultural land and payment rent in kind by a farmer (Art. 2087 and following).
INHERITANCE - The Civil Code details rules regarding succession. The succession of the deceased may be either (partly) intestate or (partly) testate. The property of which the deceased has not disposed by will shall devolve upon his heirs-at-law. In case the deceased has no heirs, the inheritance devolves upon the State by general title.
WATER - Provisions on water are placed under the Title (Ownership) of Book IV. The right to fish shall be subject to the provisions of special laws, as shall the right to sail on rivers and lakes. As to water rights, the conditions on which water may be appropriated or used and the rights of use or servitudes to which it may be subject, shall be as laid down in this Title. Water shall be private property only where it is collected in a container basin or cistern, made by the hand of man, out of which it does not flow naturally. Nothing in the Title shall affect the provisions of special legislation relating to the collective exploitation of irrigation or drainage areas nor shall affect the provisions of special laws and administrative regulations, whether of general or local application. The Civil Code distinguishes between holder ship and ownership rights. It regulates the relationship between neighbours, mainly upstream and downstream and regulates water use for irrigation and industrial purposes. It also regulates to certain extent the extraction of groundwater.
AGRICULTURE - The Civil Code extensively regulates the lease of agricultural land and related matters of rights and duties of lessor and lessee and the exploitation of the land. Special rules apply if a contract of lease relates to a piece of land which the lessee undertakes to exploit. The parties may in their contract derogate from such rules unless such derogation is expressly prohibited by law. Individual contracts regarding the lands to which model contracts (made by the Ministry of Agriculture) relate shall be deemed to have been made on the terms laid down in such model contracts but parties may derogate from its provisions. The direction of exploitation shall be with the lessee unless otherwise provided for. A farmer-tenant shall exploit the land and keep it in a good state of productivity. Disregard of this obligation may imply termination of the contract. The contracting party who has the direction of the exploitation shall decide on the nature and manner of the cultivation to be undertaken. The rent may be a portion of the crop (Arts. 2074 to 2117). The Civil Code is also about cultivation of land without objection of the landowner and a contract for agricultural work. i.e. a contract of employment under which the employee undertakes to perform agricultural tasks, including the care of animals and the planting and harvesting of crops. Special legislation governing agricultural work may derogate from these provisions of the Code.
ANIMALS - The Code defines liability for animals and forms for the holding of cattle by farmers owned by others (cattle included in lease of agricultural undertaking). Model contracts may be drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture to serve as a basis for individual contracts regarding certain kinds of animals or contracts, to be executed in certain regions. The seller of an animal shall guarantee that at the time the animal is delivered it does not suffer from any of the specified diseases.