Normative Expression of the Concept and Types of Common Ownership: A Comparative Analysis of Azerbaijani Law and Different Legal Systems
Ismayil Garibli 
Abstract. Common ownership is a multi-subject legal regime in which two or more persons hold ownership rights in the same object and the exercise of those rights requires a special form of coordination. This study aims to systematize the normative expression of common ownership, co-ownership by shares and joint ownership in Azerbaijani law and to compare the Azerbaijani model with selected foreign legal systems. The analysis covers the Civil Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan together with the Housing, Land and Family Codes and legislation on mortgage, privatization of housing stock, family farms, notarial acts and state registration of immovable property. The comparative part examines normative and doctrinal approaches in Turkish, Swiss, German, Austrian and French law. The findings indicate that common ownership in Azerbaijani law should be understood not as an autonomous form of ownership but as a legal regime characterized by a plurality of right-holders in relation to one legal object. A share represents the legal measure of participation in the ownership right rather than a physical part of the thing, while joint ownership is connected with a specific legal community linking the participants. On the basis of the comparative analysis, the article proposes introducing a separate statutory definition of co-ownership by shares into the Civil Code and clarifying the general legal regime of shares that are functionally inseparable from a principal property.
Keywords: ownership, common ownership, co-ownership by shares, joint ownership, share, multi-subject ownership, mortgage, marital property