Valuation of real property is an essential part of land readjustment, with the purpose to establish the right exchange value of parcels shifting owners. Applied methods should be expedient for the exchange purpose. Based on empirical findings from land readjustment cases in Norway, this article assesses whether and to what extent valuation methods in land readjustment are appropriate. The article is based on document analysis of court records on land readjustment from all the Land Consolidation Courts in Norway, analyzed through institutional theory emphasizing (the lack of) institutional adaptability. The essence of land readjustment is to facilitate implementation of urban transformation. As a peculiarity, Norwegian land readjustment is governed by a special court – the Land Consolidation Court – which historically and still largely is dealing with traditional rural land consolidation. Legal rules on Norwegian land readjustment valuation equate rules for land consolidation. Areas to be exchanged should be valued based on ‘foreseeable use’, usually understood as investment value. However, for buildable plots, market value might be used. The legal rules can be described as institutional norms or strategies, formulated as approximate procedural descriptions. Legal rules on what to value involves a significant element of discretion and should be understood as a norm. The choice of valuation method is more to be considered as a strategy. The study show that courts lack own expertise on urban valuation and, thus, often take the parties' prior valuation for granted. Furthermore, documentation on valuation methods used is sparse, in several cases such information is absent. Few court records reflect on the complexity of valuation in land readjustment. The lack of own expertise and few cases for processing by the courts contribute to land readjustment appearing unpredictable and risky for the parties. It emphasizes the slow acquisition of competence by these courts in land readjustment due to limited institutional adaptive capacity. The findings from this study contribute to the understanding of how path dependence linked to rule design, history and culturally conditioned norms and strategies lead to inertia in institutional adaptability.

中文翻译：

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挪威城市土地调整案例中的估价实践


不动产估价是土地整理的重要组成部分，其目的是确定土地流转所有者的正确交换价值。应用的方法应当有利于交流的目的。本文根据挪威土地调整案例的实证结果，评估了土地调整中的评估方法是否适当以及在多大程度上适当。本文基于对挪威所有土地合并法院的土地调整法庭记录的文件分析，通过强调（缺乏）制度适应性的制度理论进行了分析。土地整理的本质是为了促进城市改造的实施。挪威的一个特点是，土地重新调整由一个特别法院——土地合并法院管辖——该法院在历史上和现在仍然主要处理传统的农村土地合并问题。挪威土地重新调整估价的法律规则与土地整理规则相同。待交换的面积应根据“可预见的用途”进行估价，通常被理解为投资价值。然而，对于可建造的地块，可以使用市场价值。法律规则可以被描述为制度规范或策略，被表述为近似的程序描述。关于价值评估的法律规则涉及很大的自由裁量权，应该被理解为一种规范。估值方法的选择更多地应该被视为一种策略。研究表明，法院缺乏城市估价方面的专业知识，因此常常将当事人事先的估价视为理所当然。此外，有关所用估值方法的文献资料很少，在某些情况下甚至缺乏此类信息。很少有法庭记录反映土地调整估价的复杂性。 由于自身专业知识的缺乏以及法院审理的案件很少，导致土地调整对当事人来说显得不可预测且充满风险。它强调，由于机构适应能力有限，这些法院在土地调整方面的能力获得缓慢。这项研究的结果有助于理解与规则设计、历史和文化条件规范和策略相关的路径依赖如何导致制度适应性的惰性。