Whether registration conversion to be registered with the land cadastre and cadastral map without changing a land category is an administrative disposition subject to appeal litigation (negative in principle)

Article 2(1)1 of the Administrative Litigation Act, Article 2 subparag. 14 of the former Cadastral Act (repealed by Article 2 subparag. 2 of the Addenda of the Act on Land Survey, Waterway Survey and Cadastral Records, Act No. 9774, Jun. 9, 2009) (see Article 2 subparag. 30 of the current Act on the Construction, Management, etc. of Spatial Data), Article 18 (see Article 78 of the current Act on the Construction, Management, etc. of Spatial Data), Article 13(1) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Cadastral Act (repealed by Article 2 subparag. 2 of the Addenda of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Land Survey, Waterway Survey and Cadastral Records, etc., Act No. 2181, Dec. 14, 2009) (see Article 64(1) of the current Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Construction, Management, etc. of Spatial Data), and Article 2(2) (see Article 64(2

Supreme Court Decision 89Nu3700 Decided November 28, 1989 (Gong1990, 167) Supreme Court Decision 2010Du12354 Decided January 12, 2012

Plaintiff 1 and 3 others (Law Firm Jeong, Attorneys Kim Jong-young et al., Counsel for the plaintiff-appellant)

Chuncheon Market

Seoul High Court Decision 2013Nu753 decided October 29, 2014

All appeals are dismissed. The costs of appeal are assessed against the plaintiffs.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

Article 2 Subparag. 14 of the former Cadastral Act (amended by Act No. 9774 of Jun. 9, 2009 and enforced as of December 10, 209, Article 2 of the Addenda of the Act on Land Survey, Waterway Survey and Cadastral Records) provides that the meaning of the registration conversion shall be changed to the land land cadastre and cadastral map, and Article 18 provides that when a landowner has any land subject to registration conversion, he/she shall file an application with the competent authority under the conditions as prescribed by the Presidential Decree. Article 13(1) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Cadastral Act (amended by Presidential Decree No. 21881 of Dec. 14, 2009) provides that "any land for which an application for registration conversion under the provisions of Article 18 of the Act on Land Survey, Waterway Survey and Cadastral Records may be filed with the competent authority for registration conversion, etc. shall continue to apply for registration conversion by changing its land category to the remaining land due to the change of land form and quality or the approval for use of a building."

Furthermore, according to Article 37(1) of the former Cadastral Act and Article 42(1)1 of the former Enforcement Decree of the Cadastral Act, where registration conversion is conducted, the boundary, coordinates and size of each parcel shall be determined after a new survey is conducted, and where any error occurs in determining the area, where such error is within the scope permitted by the Enforcement Decree of the former Cadastral Act, the area to be registered conversion shall be determined as the area for registration conversion, and where the scope exceeds the permissible scope, the competent authority should ex officio correct the area in the parcels of land and the boundaries in the forestry map.

In addition, Article 24(1) of the former Cadastral Act provides for a separate correction method to correct errors in registered matters, such as the area of the cadastral record, when a landowner finds any error in registered matters in the cadastral record.

In light of the language, structure, and purport of the relevant Acts and subordinate statutes, registration conversion that does not cause land category change is merely a prerequisite measure to obtain more accurate evidence of fact while promoting convenience in the execution of administrative affairs, such as rationalization of cadastral management, as the act of transferring cadastral relations from the forestry cadastral book and forestry cadastral map to the land cadastral map, and thus, it cannot be deemed that it affects the substantive legal relationship of landowners, barring any special circumstance. Thus, it cannot be deemed an administrative disposition that is subject to appeal litigation (see Supreme Court Decisions 89Nu3700, Nov. 28, 1989; 2010Du12354, Jan. 12, 2012).

In the same purport, the lower court determined that the part of the conjunctive claim of the instant lawsuit seeking confirmation of invalidity of the instant registration conversion act, which was registered by changing the form and category of the land owned by the Plaintiffs from the registration ledger to the land cadastre in the registration ledger only was unlawful. In so doing, contrary to what is alleged in the grounds of appeal, the lower court did not err by misapprehending the legal doctrine

Therefore, without having to examine the remaining grounds of appeal on the merits, the appeal is without merit.

Therefore, all appeals are dismissed, and the costs of appeal are assessed against the losing party. It is so decided as per Disposition by the assent of all participating Justices on the bench.

Justices Kim Shin (Presiding Justice)