2.1 Introduction Since the beginning of his presidential tenure in 2016, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has initiated an ambitious plan to modernise the administrative and commercial infrastructure of Uzbekistan, in order to generate economic growth through expanded private sector activity. The specific political vision of the Mirziyoyev government has been badged ‘New Uzbekistan’, a term designed to distinguish its governance approach from the rule of its predecessor, the Karimov regime. This political strategy articulates the government’s ambition to turn Uzbekistan into a thriving and open economic centre in Central Asia, one typified by entrepreneurialism, cosmopolitanism and innovation.7 It has also involved an explicit commitment to the professionalisation of the public service, streamlining bureaucratic processes, upholding the rule of law and property protections, and the rooting out of corruption at an administrative level. To implement this programme of economic transformation, one asset class in particular has been critical and especially contentious: landed property, also known as ‘real property’. Real property references property rights over land and built developments that are stationed on the land. In order to rapidly construct residential, commercial, touristic, industrial and agricultural infrastructure that can cement the president’s vision, there has been a largescale transfer of real property over the past eight years from urban residents and farmers to private corporate developers. In principle, there is nothing improper about the transfer of real property from owners to private developers, providing it is a voluntary transaction entered into through a free market mechanism and safeguarding other human rights. In this regard, Uzbekistan has constitutional and legal protections to ensure real property owners enjoy secure title. Compulsory acquisition of real property can take place in Uzbekistan, but only in a strictly enumerated set of circumstances, with added legal stipulations designed to ensure property owners are compensated for any loss. Compulsory acquisition denotes a process whereby the state seizes private property without requiring the consent of property owners. In the next section, the constitutional, legal and regulatory framework governing real property rights in Uzbekistan and compulsory acquisition will be presented. This summary was produced during March–April 2023 and reflects the law and decrees applicable at the time. In section 2.3, five case studies will be presented that illustrate how these rights are violated by the state, the enabling role played by the courts and the significant impact on victims. 10 A False Sense of Legality