8 The effects of property laws on the process of restitution and compensation in post-communist Albania, under the framework of transitional justice. measures taken and changes in laws, transparency, information, reporting, interactions and institutional coordination, legal deadlines, grievances, effectiveness, enforceability and what the consequences are. Through these measures, former owners first and foremost, see how much effort society and their state is making to repair violations. The effects of legal restitution and compensation measures not only reflect the regulation of a past situation, but also convey to them the level and legal certainty they feel in the living system and the conviction that this system is built on such solid foundations as that what happened once will never happen again, history will not repeat itself. This paper studies the effects that these measures brought, analyzing how and what kind of effects brought in a post-communist country like Albania. However, even today, after almost 30 years, addressing property violations is one of the most discussed issues in Albania. In order to explain to what extent this process took place in us, this study examines the effects brought by property laws that were passed after 1990’. Such study is very important in understanding how important these laws have been and continue to be. It aims to show that their response turns out to be great in many areas, such as the economy, foreign investment, justice, the work of competent institutions in the field of property, citizen relations, the increase of corruption, the principle of legal certainty, etc. The economic situation, social situation and the isolation of Albanians for almost 50 years has made the recovery even more difficult. 1.LITERATURE REVIEW The legal framework of Albania’s property institute has undergone major changes since the transition from communism to democracy in 1990.5 From the very beginning of the fall of communism and the establishment of democracy, Albania has gone through a process of reforms to property rights, including the restoration of private property, the principles of law, as well as legal initiatives to re-establish the rights of those who were unjustly expropriated during communism. However the concept of private property, although “revived” in Albania after the fall of communism, was done through a general but inconsistent6 privatization process. Going back in time to the communist system, under the 1976 Constitution7, the state was the sole owner of all real estate, excluding the possibility of private property. Private property was replaced by state property. Under communism, it was common for Central and Eastern European countries to confiscate property from one group without consent and without compensating and then transferring that property to another group.8 So, the governments had to determine how to address the property dispossession that had occurred during Communism.9 From 1991, the country began to enter in a transition period towards transforming Albania in a democratic country and centralized economy into a market oriented economy. One of the first steps in this direction was addressing property rights. Like some other communist states as Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Latvia, Russia, Slovenia,etc., Albania as well has started the procedure of drafting new property laws since 1991. Thus, this was a positive development for the Albanian state. Drafting new property laws, on a democratic state, it represented a very important and hopeful initiative for Albania and especially for former owners. During this time, officials began the process of privatizing real estate, the transferring of state property into 5. The year 1990 is considered the first year of democracy, although the Democratic Party legally assumed power with the March 31, 1992 election. 6. World Bank Information Document.Second Edition. Report No.62519-AL. Governance in the protection of immovable property rights in Albania: an ongoing challenge. (April 2012).1 7. Law No.5506, dated 28.12.1976- Constitution of the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania 8. “I call these actions property dispossession or property theft”.Bernadette Atuahene, Property and Transitional Justice. 58 (UCLA L. Rev. Discourse 65. 2010.) 66 9. Bernadette Atuahene, Property and Transitional Justice. ( 58 UCLA L. Rev. Discourse 65 2010). 66.