The concept of "category of land" in the concent of modern legal understanding

The article is devoted to the insufficiently studied in the theory of land law the issue of land division into categories, in particular the disclosure of the content of the concept of land category and its qualifications, which underlie such division, and which distinguish categories from each other. There is disagreement with the inconsistent and insufficiently substantiated proposals of some scientists to abandon the categories of land as a post-Soviet remnant of the application of the principle of land use for its intended purpose. It is stated that the refusal to divide land into categories at the current stage of development of land relations will require the simultaneous replacement of all land legislation. It is noted that the concept of "category" in various guises is used in more than four hundred laws of Ukraine. Lexical and legal interpretation of the concept of «category» made it possible to bring its features with their further differentiation into general and special. On the basis of a special feature of land properties (natural and social), a conclusion was made about the inconsistency of the category of lands of industry, transport, communications, energy and defence enshrined in the Land Code of Ukraine with the concept of land category. Keywords: category of lands, division of lands into categories, purpose of lands, signs of the category of lands, land legislation