Summary

This article addresses legal concepts which are relatively new in the Estonian legal system: ownership reservation and expectant rights pertaining both to property law and the law of obligations. Based on practical examples, the author gives an overview how the concepts were developed and which rights they affect. Further, the author examines the effect of ownership reservation and expectant rights on obligation relationships between parties.
Ownership reservation grants a seller a guarantee in property law to a right of claim for payment of the purchase price. For this, the parties must enter into a contract, without conditions, under the law of obligations and into a conditional contract under property law which prescribes transfer of ownership to the purchaser upon payment of the purchase price in full. An expectant right is a possibility to acquire a particular right in the future (ownership) under definite circumstances. An expectant right grants a purchaser the right to become an owner automatically upon the fulfilment of certain conditions.