La propriété foncière représente une question intéressante et fondamentale au Vietnam. Le rapport à la terre a été encadré de différentes manières tout au long de l’histoire de ce pays, dans les périodes tant féodale que coloniale et socialiste. Les différences au niveau de la conception ainsi que de la technique d’administration des sols à chaque époque expliquent la complexité du droit foncier vietnamien contemporain ; complexité accrue dans un contexte d’économie de marché avec l’orientation socialiste maintenue par le Parti communiste. Cette situation ambiguë renvoie à l’image d’un pays qui est prêt à mettre en place des réformes structurelles, particulièrement dans le secteur économique, sans pour autant rompre avec son idéologie socialiste. La question foncière constitue un axe majeur des problématiques actuelles, au centre desquelles réside la confusion entre la propriété publique et la propriété privée. À la suite de lois foncières et d’amendements divers, notamment après la Constitution de 2013, le droit d’usage foncier et la propriété immobilière des particuliers ont mieux été protégés qu’auparavant. L’État du Vietnam a reconnu la nature réelle du droit d’usage des sols, qui a permis l’émergence d’un marché immobilier dynamique et attractif par les investisseurs nationaux et internationaux. D’autre part, l’urbanisation a conduit à de nombreux bouleversements dans l’usage de la terre en zones rurales. Malgré ses efforts, l’État du Vietnam ne parvient cependant pas à s’adapter aux exigences de ce nouveau contexte. Il s’y développe depuis longtemps des débats sur la propriété foncière, sur la notion de droit d’usage et d’autres éléments en rapport avec la gestion foncière. Les dirigeants tâtonnent et l’administration foncière soulève encore de nombreuses difficultés. L’un des aspects les plus remarquables concerne le maintien de la réquisition foncière, procédure qui implique la précarité du droit d’usage des particuliers.Alors, à qui appartient aujourd’hui la terre au Vietnam ? Est-ce que les composantes du peuple vietnamien, surtout les paysans pauvres, en sont véritablement les maîtres ? Le droit d’usage peut-il être considéré comme l’équivalent d’un droit de propriété au sens du droit français ? Toutes ces interrogations, qui se trouvent au coeur de la présente thèse, conduisent à suggérer une nouvelle réforme du droit vietnamien dans un proche avenir. / Land ownership is an interesting and fundamental issue in Vietnam. The relationship to the land has been framed in different ways throughout the history of this country, in both feudal and colonial and socialist periods. The differences in design and soil management technique in each period explain the complexity of contemporary Vietnamese land law; increased complexity in a market economy context with the socialist orientation maintained by the Communist Party. This ambiguous situation refers to the image of a country that is ready to implement structural reforms, particularly in the economic sector, without breaking with its socialist ideology. The land issue is a major focus of current issues, at the center of which lies the confusion between public property and private property. As a result of land laws and various amendments, particularly after the 2013 Constitution, land tenure and private property rights have been better protected than before. The State of Vietnam has recognized the real nature of the land use right, which has allowed the emergence of a dynamic and attractive real estate market by national and international investors. On the other hand, urbanization has led to many upheavals in the use of land in rural areas. Despite its efforts, however, the State of Vietnam can not adapt to the demands of this new context. There has been a long history of debates on land ownership, the concept of the right of use and other elements related to land management. The leaders are fumbling and the land administration still raises many difficulties. One of the most remarkable aspects concerns the maintenance of the land requisition, a procedure that involves the precariousness of the right of use of individuals.So, who owns land in Vietnam today? Are the components of the Vietnamese people, especially the poor peasants, really the masters? Can the right of use be considered as the equivalent of a right of property within the meaning of French law? All these questions, which are at the heart of this thesis, lead to suggest a new reform of Vietnamese law in the near future.

This Dissertation evaluates the potential opportunities, challenges and outcomes attendant on Vietnam’s modernisation effort through the incorporation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Core International Labour Standards (CILS) on freedom of association and collective bargaining into Vietnam law. The Dissertation shows that although Vietnam is likely to benefit from incorporating the CILS on freedom of association and collective bargaining into its legal system, its constitutional value system is not currently consistent with those of particular ILO CILS. It offers recommendations on pre- substantive and procedural measures necessary to ensure the successful reception of ILO CILS on freedom of association and collective bargaining into Vietnam legal practice.

What makes real life contractual arrangements? How does the law influence real life contractual arrangements? These are everyday questions for businesspeople and commercial lawyers. The traditional ‘imperative’ view of law assumes that business people contract ‘in the shadow of the law’ and contractual arrangements conform to what the law says. But empirical studies on contract practice suggest that contract law may, in fact, play a very insignificant role in real life contractual arrangements. This thesis provides a sociological view of the role of contract law in real life contractual arrangements in the context of the Vietnamese market. Specifically, this thesis applies an institutional law & economics approach to investigate how social structures of the market influence contractual arrangements to marginalize contract law in the Vietnamese market. Drawing on two surveys of contract behaviour in the Vietnamese market, this thesis finds that real life contractual arrangements respond to the institutional structure of the market as a whole, rather than only ‘the shadow of the law’. Institutional changes in the Vietnamese market suggest that there exists a merchant law system, constituted of traditional moral norms and social structures in the market. This merchant law system continues to order contractual arrangements in the market, despite the introduction of a transplanted contract law system. Disagreeing with the imperative approach, this thesis claims that contract law reform should conform to the institutional structure of the market to reduce transaction costs of contracting and to provide an effective framework for real life contractual arrangements.