Open Decision Ledger · Constitutional, administrative & state liability
Who bears the water cause-charge in an urban development area
Supreme Court, July 9, 2020, 2017Du40723 (judgment)
Case name: 원인자부담금부과처분취소청구의소
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Where a person acquired land formed by an urban development project and built a building at the scale and for the use set out in the development plan, must that person bear the obligation to pay the water supply cause-charge under the water legislation?
Holding
In principle, no. Where an urban development project is carried out, the cause of the new or enlarged water facilities arises from carrying out the project itself, not from the later act of building on the land the project formed. The obligation therefore rests on the project operator, and the purchaser who builds within the scale and use foreseen in the development plan bears no separate obligation, unless the building goes beyond the range originally foreseen in the project or other special circumstances exist.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
도시개발사업으로 조성된 토지에 개발계획에서 정해진 규모 및 용도에 따라 건축물이 건축된 경우 수도법령에 따른 상수도원인자부담금 납부의무는 도시개발사업의 사업시행자가 부담하는 것이 원칙이고
Unofficial English translation
Where a building is constructed on land formed through an urban development project in accordance with the scale and use specified in the development plan, the obligation to pay the water supply development charge under the water supply statutes is, in principle, borne by the business operator of the urban development project, and
Disposition
Dismissed Stated in the decision
상고를 기각한다. 상고비용은 피고가 부담한다.
Unofficial English translation
The appeal is dismissed. The costs of the final appeal shall be borne by the defendant.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
해당 건축물이 원래 도시개발사업에서 예정된 범위를 초과하는 등의 특별한 사정이 없는 한 조성된 토지를 취득하여 건축물의 건축행위를 한 자는 별도로 상수도원인자부담금 납부의무를 부담하지 않는다.
Unofficial English translation
Unless there are special circumstances such as the relevant building exceeding the scope originally anticipated in the urban development project, a person who acquired the formed land and engaged in the act of constructing a building does not separately bear the obligation to pay the water supply development charge.
Factors
- 개발계획에는 인구수용계획, 토지이용계획 등을 통해 도시개발구역에 건축되는 건축물 등의 규모 및 용도가 예정되어 있다
- ‘수도시설의 신설이나 증설 등의 원인’은 도시개발사업을 시행함으로써 발생하는 것이지
- 개발계획에서 정해진 규모 및 용도에 따라 건축물이 건축된 경우
- 원래 도시개발사업에서 예정된 범위를 초과하는 등의 특별한 사정이 없는 한
Unofficial English translation
• The development plan foresees the scale and use of buildings, etc. to be constructed within the urban development zone through a population accommodation plan, a land use plan, etc.
• the 'cause of the new installation or expansion, etc. of water supply facilities' arises from carrying out the urban development project, and
• where a building is constructed in accordance with the scale and use specified in the development plan,
• unless there are special circumstances such as exceeding the scope originally anticipated in the urban development project
Relation to precedent
Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision
대법원 2012. 10. 11. 선고 2010두7604 판결(공2012하, 1824)
Unofficial English translation
Supreme Court Decision 2010Du7604 decided October 11, 2012 (Gong 2012 Ha, 1824)
Decisions referred to
대법원 2012. 10. 11. 선고 2010두7604 판결(공2012하, 1824)
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
Does the same allocation of the burden apply to cause-charges for sewerage or other infrastructure created by the same urban development project?
An amendment to Article 71(1) of the Water Act or to the definition and planning provisions of the Urban Development Act would require this entry to be read again. So would a later decision that allocates the charge differently, or a finding in another file that the building exceeded the range originally foreseen in the project.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
7 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-25
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 7 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “Does the same allocation of the burden apply to cause-charges for sewerage or other infrastructure created by the same urban development project?” vs Independent “How should the purchaser's charge be calculated when construction exceeds the project's originally planned scope?”
Primary asks whether the same allocation applies to sewerage and other infrastructure charges, while independent asks how the purchaser's charge is calculated when construction exceeds the planned scope.
도시개발사업으로 조성된 토지에 개발계획에서 정해진 규모 및 용도에 따라 건축물이 건축된 경우 수도법령에 따른 상수도원인자부담금 납부의무는 도시개발사업의 사업시행자가 부담하는 것이 원칙이고Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Daejeon High Court, in its judgment of 23 March 2017 (2016Nu13135), held the imposition unlawful. It reasoned that the association carried out the Dangjin 1 district urban development project over 266,310 square metres, that the association sold 26,632.2 square metres of that area to Keyon Construction on 19 April 2012, and that the plaintiff received the land in kind satisfaction from Keyon on 29 November 2012, registered title and built an apartment complex, so the association was the party that gave the cause of the water works and the plaintiff was not a payer of the charge.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court found no error. It restated that a city development plan foresees the scale and use of the buildings to be erected, that the cause of the new or enlarged water facilities arises from carrying out the project, and that the charge in principle falls on the project operator. It agreed with the court below that no special circumstance such as a building beyond the range originally foreseen had been shown, so the imposition was aimed at a person who bore no obligation, and dismissed the defendant's appeal.
Distinguishing conditions
- A building erected on the land at a scale or for a use beyond the range originally foreseen in the urban development project, which is the special circumstance the Court preserved.
- Land that was not formed by an urban development project, so that no development plan has foreseen the scale and use of the buildings.
- The project operator itself, which the Court identified as the party in principle that bears the obligation under Article 71(1) of the Water Act.
Record verification notes
Set the built building against the development plan of the project, checking the population plan and the land use plan for the scale and use actually foreseen, since the whole turn on the decision rests on that comparison. Then confirm whether the claimant was a housing construction business that acquired the land the association formed and carried out the apartment project, as the Court described it in applying the rule. Note also that Article 71(1) of the Water Act lets the water business operator impose the cost on the party giving the cause, so any later charge brought against the builder for another facility must be assessed on its own facts.
From the official text
Points at issue
도시개발사업으로 조성된 토지를 취득하여 개발계획에서 정해진 규모 및 용도에 따라 건축물의 건축행위를 한 자가 수도법령에 따른 상수도원인자부담금 납부의무를 부담하는지 여부(원칙적 소극)
Unofficial English translation
Whether a person who acquired land formed through an urban development project and engaged in the act of constructing a building in accordance with the scale and use specified in the development plan bears the obligation to pay the water supply development charge under the water supply statutes (in principle, negative)
Summary of the holding
도시개발법에 따르면, 도시개발사업이란 도시개발구역에서 주거, 상업, 산업, 유통, 정보통신, 생태, 문화, 보건 및 복지 등의 기능이 있는 단지 또는 시가지를 조성하기 위하여 시행하는 사업으로서(제2조 제1항 제2호), 도시개발구역 지정권자가 수립하는 도시개발사업의 개발계획에는 인구수용계획, 토지이용계획 등을 통해 도시개발구역에 건축되는 건축물 등의 규모 및 용도가 예정되어 있다(제4조 제1항, 제5조 제1항). 도시개발사업이 시행되는 경우 ‘수도시설의 신설이나 증설 등의 원인’은 도시개발사업을 시행함으로써 발생하는 것이지, 도시개발사업으로 조성된 토지를 취득한 자가 주택 등의 건축물을 건축하였을 때에 비로소 발생한다고 볼 것은 아니다. 따라서 도시개발사업으로 조성된 토지에 개발계획에서 정해진 규모 및 용도에 따라 건축물이 건축된 경우 수도법령에 따른 상수도원인자부담금 납부의무는 도시개발사업의 사업시행자가 부담하는 것이 원칙이고, 해당 건축물이 원래 도시개발사업에서 예정된 범위를 초과하는 등의 특별한 사정이 없는 한 조성된 토지를 취득하여 건축물의 건축행위를 한 자는 별도로 상수도원인자부담금 납부의무를 부담하지 않는다.
Order
상고를 기각한다. 상고비용은 피고가 부담한다.
Unofficial English translation
The appeal is dismissed. The costs of the final appeal shall be borne by the defendant.
Provisions referred to
수도법 제3조 제5호, 제17호, 제25호, 제71조 제1항, 도시개발법 제2조 제1항 제2호, 제4조 제1항, 제5조 제1항
Read 2026-10-25 · Cross-read 2026-10-25. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
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