“The land-to-the tiller principle” was first appeared in the Constitution in the 1948 and several related laws thereafter, such as the Land Reform Law etc. Since then, the structure of the Korean agriculture and the surrounding environment have changed significantly. It is time to check the compatibility of the principle with the current situation. Thus, this study is designed to review that the basic concept of the principle is still effective and applicable to the new environment and to investigate the legal-institutional restrictions and socio-economic limitations of the principle in terms of the current Korean agriculture. In addition, this study scrutinizes what factors deteriorated the basic features of the principle. Furthermore, this study raises policy issues related to the principle to improve the ownership of farmland and the efficiency of land use.