Conventional and potential legal mechanisms for the protection of public property in Iran

The protection of public property is a prominent manifestation of safeguarding the public interests of nations and constitutes one of the essential and indispensable missions of governments. Employing library-based research and adopting an analytical-descriptive approach, the present study seeks to answer the question of what the legal mechanisms for the protection of public property are. It concludes that these mechanisms in Iran's legal system can be broadly divided into two categories: "conventional mechanisms" and "potential mechanisms." The conventional and current mechanisms include: requiring the government and public institutions to determine the boundaries (demarcation) of public property; requiring public entities (persons) to efficiently maintain public property; establishing legal and financial protections for the custodians of public property; and prohibiting settlement (peace) and arbitrability of disputes concerning the property of public entities. The potential legal mechanisms and capacities for the protection of public property in Iran include: "granting legal personality to user-oriented public property," derived from Imamiyyah jurisprudence; and "non-assignment (inalienability) of public property," "non-applicability of the statute of limitations," and "prohibition of seizure (confiscation) of public property," originating from the French legal system. These can be utilized by norm-setting institutions in accordance with the requirements of the legal ecosystem of the Islamic Republic of Iran.