Environmental protection through civil law instruments in the legislation of the Republic of Serbia

This paper provides an analysis of the environmental protection by the civil law using the instruments of law of property and obligations. The subjective rights recognized by the Law on Environmental Protection, the Law on the Basics of Property Law Relations and the Law on Obligations are regularly realized spontaneously, peacefully, by removing sources of harmful emissions, undertaking protective measures, stopping harmful actions and compensating for the resulting damage, by the bearer of legal duties on his own initiative or at the request of the rights holder. In cases where the duty holder does not fulfill the stated legal duties, an illegal situation arises due to the impossibility of realizing the subjective rights of the holder, who, using his constitutional right to legal protection, can exercise his subjective right in the proceedings before the court, with instruments of civil environmental protection. The authors review property-law and obligation-law protection of the environment by means of an actio negatoria, as well as legal protection of obligations, with a special emphasis on actio popularis, analyzing their scope and scope in the field of environmental protection. Also, this paper proposes the possibility of introducing new instruments of civil environmental protection through the simultaneous action of state authorities to initiate civil procedures for environmental protection ex officio, as well as the introduction of instruments of a special civil procedure in which the object of protection would be the general interest in protection environment.