Is the ground right disappearing?Surprising judgment in the distributed forest trial

　In the Nagoya High Court, I was surprised or surprised last month.

　内容は「分収造林」に関するもの。石川県金沢市の原告が、1968年に山林23ヘクタールを県の林業公社と契約して造林が行われた。主伐までの期間は40年～45年だった。つまり2013年に期限は来たのだが、公社側は主伐をせず、さらに35年間の契約延長を求めた。

　The content of the trial was that the plaintiff refused to extend the contract, cut down trees for public corporate rights rights and demanded it.The Kanazawa District Court has appealed because he dismissed the claim.

　そして出た高裁判決の中に、造林木はみんな原告のもの、という文言があったのだ。その理由は契約終了時に公社側の地上権は消滅しているから。公社は上告しなかったようだから、判決は確定している。

　There is a little explanation that this is a surprising judgment.

　First of all, a fractional structure is a forestry -specific mechanism that rents land from a mountain owner, and distributes the profits obtained by felling when a tree grows (in this case, plaintiff: 4: 6)During the contract period, the rights of the planted trees are shared, but the forest is effectively managed by the public corporation.

　However, the price of wood has dropped significantly since the age of the forest was built, and there is a strong risk of deficit even if it is cut down at this time.Therefore, it is an explanation of the public corporation to extend the contract, grow trees thicker, and wait for wood to sell high.

　But many landowners are not convinced.It's too long, and the land is substantially occupied by the public corporation.Of course, the area is not paid.

　Here, I can't afford the individual circumstances of this trial and the problem of the fractional forest itself in detail, but what I was surprised was that after the end of the contract, all the landowners of the land are acquired by the land owner.This is the reason for the judgment.

　林業界では、歴史的に土地と地上に生える樹木の権利を分けて考える。また土地よりも樹木こそが財産だとする意識も強かった。そこでは、造林木は植えて育てた者の所有と考えるのだ。

　Therefore, it is often the case that the profits of the harvested wood are grown and raised on the rented land.For example, Nara's Yoshino Forestry is called lease, forestry.This mechanism has played a role in attracting forest -building funds from the outside.

　こうした事情を受けて、立木を土地とは別に登記する法律もつくられている。（民法の「立木ニ関スル法律」。明治42年制定）

　This law is still alive.The registered trees can be separated from the land and transferred, or a mortgage can be set.Furthermore, the effect of disposal of land ownership or ground rights does not reach the registered tree.This is valid while there is a standing tree (until it is cut down or withered).

　So this high court ruling is surprising.After the contract is over, the ground right (including streets) will be automatically belonged to the land owner (although the streets of the distributed forest would not have been registered, it was a conventional customary right.Disappear).

　In the future, in various parts of the collective forest, similar cases may be one after another.If you do not agree with the extension of the contract, if the ground right is considered to move to the landowner, some people will choose that.

　However, it should not be a solution to the amount of reinforced forests.No matter how much the owner gets all the forests, if you try to cut down, you have to order again, but the deficit is inevitable.If you cut down, you may become a damping mountain and cause a disaster, and it is doubtful whether it can be rebuilt on the site.

　In the end, there is no only way to leave management or sell the forest by land (assuming a buyer found).There is also a method of outsourcing to local governments (Forestry Management Management Law), but there is no point in this, because the forests that have been recovered from the public corporation are just going to the local government.Municipalities also have to invest taxes.

　一方、公社にとっては造林にかけた経費を回収することなく明け渡すのだから赤字が確定する。これは隠してきた負債が明るみに出ることを意味する。

　Earlier, when the Asahi Shimbun gave a questionnaire to forestry corporations nationwide, the market value for debt was only 4 %.(May 6, 2018)

　全国の林業公社の分収造林面積はおよそ42万ヘクタールにも及ぶが、その隠れ負債は１兆円を優に超えるだろう。それらが表に出て白日の元にさらされてしまう。だから契約延長したがるわけだが、仮に30年以上先送りしても、その時期に木材価格が上がっている保証はない。逆に負債が膨れ上がっている可能性だってある。

　That is not only the local government's distributed forest.It seems that the country has a huge (hidden) debt in a dividend forest and a dividend forest (known as a green owner system).

　I felt that this ruling could not only change the awareness of the forest building in the forest industry, but could also open the box of Pandora, a hidden debt.