Cause No Conflict
by Kris Borer
"The objects commonly referred to as property are simply means of an individual’s
proper action."
Confiscation and the Homestead Principle
by Murray N. Rothbard
The Economics of Property Rights
by Svetozar Pejović
Freedom and Property: Where They Conflict
by Frank van Dun
"Suppose a person complains about being isolated from the rest of the world by his
neighbors' noninvasive actions and presents his case to a judge. Which judge is closer
to the libertarian spirit and more likely to contribute to conditions of peaceful
coexistence? One who dismisses the complaint because the neighbors do not trespass on
the property of the complainant, or one who is willing to hear the complaint and, if it
turns out to be justified, willing to decide that the neighbors are under an obligation
to grant a right of way to the complainant?"
"Human Rights" as Property Rights
by Murray N. Rothbard
"Liberals generally wish to preserve the concept of “rights” for such “human” rights as
freedom of speech, while denying the concept to private property. And yet, on the
contrary the concept of “rights” only makes sense as property rights. For not only are
there no human rights which are not also property rights, but the former rights lose
their absoluteness and clarity and become fuzzy and vulnerable when property rights are
not used as the standard."
John Locke’s Theory of Property: Problems of Interpretation
by Karen I. Vaughn
"In the middle part of the twentieth century, the whole constitutional-limited
government-liberal enterprise has been called into question, and part of the questioning
process has been a renewed interest in the political philosophy of John Locke. Heralding
the new interest in Locke were three studies that challenged Locke’s credentials as a
classical liberal and all based their challenge on a reading of Locke’s theory of
property. The works of Willmoore Kendall, Leo Strauss, and C.B. MacPherson all argued that
Locke was not at all what he was supposed to be, and they thereby opened up a new
investigation of the meaning and importance of Locke’s theory of property in his political
thought."
Native Americans and Property Rights
by Leonard P. Liggio
The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted
by Thomas Hodgskin
"Legislation, according to my view, was originally founded in conquest, and it has ever
since been continued in utter ignorance of its results. As was the primitive act, so are
all its consequences hostile to the course of nature. As long as mankind obey principles
flowing from that primitive aggression, so long will they be tormented by open theft and
secret fraud, which tending to destroy confidence, and making each man act as much as
possible for himself, instead of all mutually exchanging their services, check division
of labour far more even than restrictions on trade. As long as political society is based
on mutual oppression and plunder, so long shall we all suffer from that profligate scorn
of natural right, which, dictating the conduct of those in high places, corrupts others
by its example; so long also shall we be tormented by courts of law, and customs, and
excise duties, and visits from the taxgatherer; which prevent every man from knowing what
accurately belongs to himself, and making him hold even food, drink, and clothing, by the
insecure tenor of the tax-inflictor's conscience, and the lawyer's mystic interpretation
of almost incomprehensible decrees, convert our naturally happy existence into a long
scene of contention, uncertainty, and dread."
On Property and Exploitation
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Walter Block
Owning the Unownable
March 1995
by Paul Georgia
"Critics of free market environmentalism advance three major arguments. The first
is that it is impossible to assign property rights to—or “fence”—the atmosphere,
groundwater, or the oceans."
The Primacy of Property in a Liberal Constitutional Order: Lessons for China
by James A. Dorn
"The key to a successful future for China is the adoption of a constitution that
protects persons and property against arbitrary government power and lays a framework
for freedom under the rule of law. Just as Adam Smith articulated the principles of
liberalism in the West, so the wisdom of Lao Tzu can play a similar role in China’s
transition from market socialism to 'market Taoism.'”
Private Property
by Ludwig von Mises
"Private ownership of the means of production is the fundamental institution of the
market economy. It is the institution the presence of which characterizes the market
economy as such. Where it is absent, there is no question of a market economy."
Property
by Louis-François-Michel-Raymond Wolowski and Pierre Émile Levasseur
"It is, then, to the human being, the creator of all wealth, that we must come back; it
is upon liberty that it is expedient to base the principle of property, and if any one
would know the sign by which it is to be recognized, we will answer that it is by labor
that man impresses his personality upon matter."
Property and Freedom by Richard Pipes
reviewed by Peter Mentzel
"Relying primarily on the histories of England and Russia, Pipes makes a compelling
argument that freedom and private property are intimately linked."
Property and its Enemies, Part I:
"Design Faults" in Locke's Theory of Property Taint Ownership with Guilt,
Part II: Is Ownership a Myth?,
Part III: How to Get a Free Lunch? Just Apply for It.
by Anthony de Jasay
"He begins with an analysis of the 17th century English political philosopher, John
Locke, whose ideas on property as a natural right of mankind was one of the guiding
principles of the American Revolution. But as Jasay notes, paradoxically, Locke's theory
of property contains a "proviso" which has been seized upon by many critics in order to
undermine the very idea of a natural right to private property. . . .
In this article Jasay takes on a number of philosophers who belong to what he calls
the "ownership is a myth" school: J. Christman, L. Murphy and T. Nagel, and J. Waldron.
These philosophers argue that property "rights" are just part of a "legal convention" and
must be evaluated by "society" to determine whether they conform to notions
of "social" and not individual justice. . . .
Jasay takes issue with a new group of "enemies of property", namely the contributors to
a collection of essays entitled What Is Wrong With A Free Lunch? (2001) in which
the idea of a government guaranteed minimum income for all is advocated." -- David Hart
Property Rights: Cooperation, Conflict, and Law
edited by Terry L. Anderson and Fred S. McChesny
reviewed by James W. Ely Jr.
"Anderson and McChesney’s fine volume should help to enlighten property scholars about
the economic contours of property rights. One hopes that it will prompt other scholars
to revisit prevalent assumptions about the origins and nature of private property."
Property Rights Must Evolve with Changing Values
March 05, 2003
by John A. Baden, Ph.D.
"Clear and enforceable property rights subject to the rule of law, not political
influence, are essential to environmental protection and justice. Property rights
can protect the individual from powerful interests. Only if these rights are clear, well
defined, enforceable, and transferable do they foster peace and justice. The intractable
problems involving migratory fish and wildlife demonstrate the burdens imposed by
unclear or contested rights."
Property: The Great Problem Solver
by Morris and Linda Tannehill
"Most social problems which perplex national leaders could be solved fairly simply by
an increase in the amount and type of property owned. This would entail the equally
important, general recognition that ownership is and must be total, rather than merely
a governmental permission to possess and/or manage property so long as certain legal
rules are complied with and "rent" in the form of property taxes is paid."
The Right of Property
1897
by Herbert Spencer
"There are three ways in which, under savage, semicivilized, and civilized conditions,
men's several rights of property may be established with due regard to the equal rights
of all other men."
The Separation of Property and the State
by Anthony Gregory
"Now, to see if a left-anarchist is really an anarchist, it comes down to this:
if, in an anarchist society, businesses emerged, people decided to trade, including
their labor, and it became clear that these markets, however hierarchical, existed
not because of state enforcement but because of the voluntarily pursued preference
of the individuals involved – regardless of how exploited you considered the workers
to be and regardless of the attractive voluntary communalism that would also supposedly
emerge – would you advocate the initiation force to stop it? If so, you are not an
anarchist, any more than an atheist who advocates the forced abolition of religion
is an anarchist. To see if an “anarcho-capitalist” is really an anarchist, a similar
test can be used: would you use a state to create capitalism where none before existed?
If so, you are not an anarchist, any more than a theist who advocates theocracy."
The Social Nature of Ownership
by Spencer MacCallum
Succinct Criticism of Utilitarianism and Libertarian Creationism
September 7, 2010
by Stephan Kinsella
"Lockean homesteading works simply because by transforming and using an unowned resource first you
establish a better claim to it; there is no need in this argument to assume that labor is “owned”. And
thus, there is no basis for the creationist view that if you labor to make an information pattern that
you own that pattern. Labor only serves as part of homesteading in that it is just the way human
action transforms and thus emborders a previously-unowned scarce resource."
What Exactly Is Freedom?
by David MacGregor
"Next time you read or hear of any contentious issue, try applying the question,
"Whose property is involved here?", and you'll be surprised how much clarity it
brings to bear."
Who owns what?
by Roy Halliday
Chapter 5 of Enforceable Rights:
A Libertarian Theory of Justice.
How We Come to Own Ourselves
by N. Stephan Kinsella
"The primary social evil of our time is lack of respect for self-ownership rights. It
is what underlies private crime as well as institutionalized crime perpetrated by the
state."
I Own My Body, NOT The Government. So Why The Hell Do THey Think They have The Right To
Tell Me What I Do With It??
by Neale Osborn
"Who owns your body? I mean the physical shell your mind inhabits, and also the products
MADE by that body/mind combo??"
Moral or Immoral Government
December 7, 2010
by Walter E. Williams
"My initial assumption is that we each own ourselves. I am my private property and
you are yours. If we accept the notion that people own themselves, then it's easy
to discover what forms of conduct are moral and immoral. Immoral acts are those
that violate self-ownership. Murder, rape, assault and slavery are immoral because
those acts violate private property. So is theft, broadly defined as taking the
rightful property of one person and giving it to another."
The Production and Exchange of Used Body Parts
1971
by Simon Rottenberg
"This paper will discuss the market, as an alternative to a system of voluntary donation,
as an instrument for bringing forth a supply of organs and securing their storage and
their appropriate distribution in space and time."
Self-Ownership
by Robert LeFevre
"Each person owns himself and all of his functions, including those of sex, digestion,
cognition, and so on. Among the greatest satisfactions available to human beings are
those which recognize other persons as equals in the property ownership of self. Although
a man may wish an exclusive association with a particular friend, and while it may be
possible to contract for such an exclusive relationship, the fact remains that each party
to any association always remains the owner of himself."
Who Owns the Dead?
by Adam Young
"From time to time, the injustice of the ban on buying and selling organs is raised
in libertarian circles. What I want to do is raise and attempt to “defend the
indefensible” by exploring the larger question: Can you own the recently dead? In
other words, under the ideal libertarian conditions of unobstructed self-ownership,
could you inherit, or purchase and sell property titles to, a corpse?"
The Case Against Geoism
by Jan Narveson
"The idea that we all have an equal right to the land is amazingly arbitrary, and
contrary to all human experience while it's at it. It's arbitrary in that it has no
basis. The fact that we don't make the land is irrelevant, as already seen: we don't
make the natural part of anything we have or own, no matter whether we have "made" it
or not. But the point is, it doesn't matter. For things are just things: they do not
come with labels saying that they "belong" to some people or that some people, somehow,
have a "claim" on them, nor in turn that everybody has a claim on them, equal or
otherwise."
Earning Happiness Through Homesteading Unowned Land: a comment on 'Buying Misery
with Federal Land' by Richard Stroup
by Walter Block
The Economics and Ethics of Land Reform: A Critique of the Pontifical Council for
Justice and Peace's "Toward a Better Distribution of Land: The Challenge of
Agrarian Reform"
by Walter Block and Guillermo Yeatts
The Greatest Privatization Ever
June 2004
by Robert Higgs
"In the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Congress
spelled out how the public domain would be transferred to private owners
and divided into new states. These laws had the greatest importance in
determining how successfully the country would develop."
Man and Matter: How the Former Gains Ownership of the Latter
by Per Bylund
"This study seeks to investigate the nature of ownership of land, and
how the right to its control and use can be inferred from
self-ownership as a premise."
Our Languishing Public Lands
The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Decentralization
February 1, 2012
Robert H. Nelson
"The solution is to be found in first identifying those areas of the public
lands which are capable of yielding a national consensus as to their
management purpose—likely to be the most environmentally attractive parts
of the public lands, such as wilderness areas. The operative goals on the
remaining, less nationally significant lands should be decentralization
and privatization. Where the circumstances of the lands allow for a
workable system of private property rights (both the main benefits and
the main costs can be assigned to the same private party), the lands
should be privatized (or transferred to long-term private leases).
Where the circumstances of the land involve more beneficiaries and larger
transaction costs of group decision making, some new collective governing
instruments will be required. In some cases, private collective
ownerships—the rise of private community associations in recent years
may offer a model—may be feasible. Perhaps more often, the lands will have
to remain in the public sector, but their management should be decentralized
to new lower-level units of governance where broad agreement on goals
is more likely and where effective management purposes and methods can
thus more easily win acceptance. In the public sector, the newly
decentralized units of land governance might be a state, a county, a
municipality, or limited segments of such. In some cases a brand new
government unit might be created specifically for public land purposes
such as a form of public corporation."
Ownership of Land
by Robert LeFevre
"To maximize human well-being and to minimize disputes, private ownership and management
of land and all appurtenances to land should be encouraged. Further, the land should be
untaxed. The owner should own totally, once all encumbrances have been removed."
Sowing and Reaping Devastation in Haiti:
The property-rights vacuum explains a lot.
February 15, 2010
by T. Norman Van Cott
"My point is that Haitian land stripped of its trees and Haitian land covered with
earthquake debris trace to a common cause. That cause is the dysfunctional state of
Haitian private property rights. Dysfunctional is charitable — a property-rights vacuum
is more apt. The vacuum promotes economic myopia among Haitians. Future benefits — from
preserving trees to constructing longer-lived buildings — figure less importantly in
economic calculations when the benefits’ recipients are uncertain."
Spencerian Ethics and Land
by Benjamin R. Tucker
"In Liberty's view, the occupancy-and-use theory of land tenure is as inconsistent with
Spencerian ethics as is the existing system of land tenure. Spencerian ethics requires
the believers therein to adopt some method, be it Communism, or Land Nationalization, or
the Single Tax, of giving to all men equal use of the entire earth. Of course, no method
can possibly accomplish that result; but that only shows the absurdity of the
Spencerian ethics."
This Land Is Mine
by Roderick Long
"Our relation to the products of our labour is simply an extension of our relation
to our bodies; indeed, our bodies themselves are to a large extent the product of our
labour (though the particles composing them are not), just as cultivated land is the
product of our labour (though again the particles composing it are not)."
When Is a Land Title Criminal?
by Murray N. Rothbard
"A particularly important application of our theory of property titles is the case
of landed property. For one thing, land is a fixed quotal portion of the earth,
and therefore the ground land endures virtually permanently. Historical investigation of
land titles therefore would have to go back much further than for other more perishable
goods. However, this is by no means a critical problem, for, as we have seen, where the
victims are lost in antiquity, the land properly belongs to any non-criminals who are in
current possession."
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy
and Philosophy by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
reviewed by N. Stephan Kinsella
November 1994
"The Economics and Ethics of Private Property contains cutting-edge economic
theories and breakthroughs in epistemology and individual rights theories."
Enforcement of Private Property Rights in Primitive Societies:
Law without Government
by Bruce L. Benson
Human Rights are Property Rights
April 1st, 1959
by Murray Rothbard
"Much is heard these days of the distinction between human rights and property rights,
and many who claim to champion the one turn with scorn upon any defender of the other.
They fail to see that property rights, far from being in conflict, are in fact the most
basic of all human rights."
The Justification of Private Property by First-Comers
by Jan Narveson
"Private property, acquirable by sheer finding and other sorts of industry, stands
in the field head and shoulders above all rival theories."
On Airports and Individual Rights
by Tibor R. Machan
"Some people will say that stringent protection of rights would lead to small
airports, at best, and many constraints on construction. Of course—but what’s so
wrong with that?"
A Positive Account of Property Rights
by David Friedman
"The central project of this essay has been to give an account of rights, especially
property rights, that is both amoral and alegal -- an account that would explain the
sort of behavior we associate with rights even in a world lacking law, law enforcement,
and feelings of moral obligation."
The Primacy of Property Rights and the American Founding
February 1998
by David Upham
"Whatever may be the merits of the extension of the suffrage only to property owners,
this much is clear: the Founders’ opinions in this regard manifest clearly that they
did not hold property rights in low esteem. As we have seen, they viewed the right to
property to be not only as important as other human rights, but in some respects as
the most important human right. Economic freedom was a most important freedom, and its
vulnerability to factional hostility required that it be afforded extensive
constitutional guarantees. Paradoxically, this most vulnerable of freedoms was also
understood to be the best practical guarantee of the other freedoms; for the private
ownership of property provided not only real power to the citizens, it also instilled
in them that virtue of self-reliance and self-governance essential to a politically
self-governing people."
Private Property
by Ludwig von Mises
"Private ownership of the means of production is the fundamental institution of the
market economy. It is the institution the presence of which characterizes the market
economy as such. Where it is absent, there is no question of a market economy."
Private Property and Its Critics
by Ludwig von Mises
"What is always criticized in the capitalist system is the fact that the owners of the
means of production occupy a preferential position. They can live without working. If
one views the social order from an individualistic standpoint, one must see in this a
serious shortcoming of capitalism. Why should one man be better off than another? But
whoever considers things, not from the standpoint of individual persons, but from that
of the whole social order, will find that the owners of property can preserve their
agreeable position solely on condition that they perform a service indispensable for
society. The capitalist can keep his favored position only by shifting the means of
production to the application most important for society. If he does not do this—if he
invests his wealth unwisely—he will suffer losses, and if he does not correct his
mistake in time, he will soon be ruthlessly ousted from his preferential position. He
will cease to be a capitalist, and others who are better qualified for it will take his
place. In a capitalist society, the deployment of the means of production is always in
the hands of those best fitted for it; and whether they want to or not, they must
constantly take care to employ the means of production in such a way that they yield
the greatest output."
Private property - a prerequisite for classical capitalism
by Svetozar Pejović
Private Property or Possession: A Synthesis
"A use-right theory might be the most equal and efficient way of using natural resources,
with rights but without property."
Property codes violation of rights
February 3, 2011
by Kent McManigal
"I understand that some people get offended when a neighbor has an
unkempt lawn or a junky car in their yard. Yet, what another person
does with their own property, even to the point of destroying it, is
no one else's business as long as no one else or their property is
being harmed -- and being offended doesn't qualify as
harm."
Libertarianism and Property Rights
by Walter Block
Liberty, Property, and Crime
November 2001
by Jim Peron
"All the problems of social order that the “broken window” policy is meant to fix
are direct results of the lack of private property."
Property and Freedom
1971
by Alberto Benegas Lynch
"Although liberty is the essential element of the advance of civilization, private
property is its prerequisite and its principal component. We cannot imagine individual
freedom without private property. To acquire and possess private property and its free
disposal, is indispensable for the free creative activity of individuals."
Property and Freedom: The Inseparable Connection
by Dr. Richard Pipes
reviewed by Yun N. Maltsev
September 2000
"Private property is always closely connected with law, which explains Russia’s failure
to develop a functional judiciary system. In case of any disagreement or contract
violation, business resorts to arbitration or the mafia, since the courts will not
enforce private contracts."
Property and Liberty
September 2000
by James Bovard
"It is important to have freedom to buy and sell, to invest, to innovate, to choose
one’s risks and reap one’s profits—but it is not enough. It is also vital that police
not be able to break people’s heads, or entrap them on bogus charges, or intercept
their e-mail at a whim, or target them because of their race, ethnicity, or political
ideas. Unfortunately, some advocates of economic freedom seem nonchalant about
practically any use of government power that does not directly interfere with
profit-making."
Property and Exchange
by Murray Rothbard
"The central core of the libertarian creed, then, is to establish the absolute right
to private property of every man: first, in his own body, and second, in the previously
unused natural resources which he first transforms by his labor. These two axioms, the
right of self-ownership and the right to "homestead," establish the complete set of
principles of the libertarian system. The entire libertarian doctrine then becomes the
spinning out and the application of all the implications of this central doctrine."
Property: Key to Self-Determination
by Sheldon Richman
December 1997
"If the freedom philosophy is to prevail, advocates of private property will need to
make it clear that without full protection of property rights we are all
poorer—and not just in the economic sense."
Property Protects
September 2005
by Sheldon Richman
"If liberty is to be won, its defenders must emphasize that property especially
protects the most vulnerable against government impositions."
The Proprietary Theory of Justice in the Libertarian Tradition
by Carl Watner
A Theory of Property Rights for a Free Nation
by Roy Halliday
The homestead principle is the source of property rights and is
necessary for the establishment of a free nation.
Van Dun on Freedom and Property: A Critique
by Walter Block
What Exactly Is Freedom?
by David MacGregor
"Next time you read or hear of any contentious issue, try applying the question,
"Whose property is involved here?", and you'll be surprised how much clarity it
brings to bear."
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in
Political Economy and Philosophy by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
reviewed by Robert W. McGee
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in
Political Economy and Philosophy by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
reviewed by Walter Block
In Praise of Private Property and a Peaceful World Order
by Michael S. Rozeff
"Private property rights lessen disputes by making ownership well-defined. Moreover,
those who exchange property have an incentive to coordinate rules of justice across
broad regions in order to lower the costs of contract disputes."
Justice and Property Rights: The Failure of Utilitarianism
by Murray N. Rothbard
"In short, for an economist to say that X and Y should be free to trade Good A for
Good B unmolested by third parties, he must also say that X legitimately and properly
owns Good A and that Y legitimately owns Good B. But this means that the free-market
economist must have some sort of theory of justice in property rights; he can scarcely
say that X properly owns Good A without asserting some sort of theory of justice on
behalf of such ownership."
King Charles Ax: Property Rights, Human Freedom, and The Quality of Life
May 1994
by John Robson
"There is no doubt at this point in history that violations of property rights do not
achieve their goals, and indeed East Germany was not a prosperous place. But money cannot
buy happiness, and what was really wrong with the GDR, as Herr Klottschen rightly stated,
was that people’s dreams and ideals were destroyed. Even if the GDR had enjoyed greater
material wealth than, say, eighteenth-century England, the latter would have been a
better place to live.
So it is wrong, even preposterous, to call property rights materialistic. They are the
most basic human right. They are the only human right. They are what makes life worth
living."
The Moral Foundations of Property Rights
November 1986
by Brian Summers
"What do the arguments for private ownership say about the justice of current property
holdings? Do they endorse the status quo? Or do they call for a massive transfer
(“redistribution”) of property rights?"
No Rights without Property Rights
October 1956
by Frank Chodorov
"And so, it is sheer verbalism to speak of any kind of freedom existing where the right
of property is not respected, or to separate this right from any other. We can therefore
dismiss any hope that under communism—the essential feature of which is the abolition
of private property—there can be any relaxation of personal controls and repressions.
Stalinite brutality may be replaced by more subtle methods, like permitting the worker
to starve if he does not wish to work in the mines; but freedom is out of the question."
On the Ultimate Justification of the Ethics of Private Property
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Property and Criminality
by Murray N. Rothbard
"A criminal is anyone who initiates violence against another man and his property: anyone
who uses the coercive “political means” for the acquisition of goods and services."
Property and Exploitation
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Walter Block
Property and the Moral Life
February 1998
by Jason Baldwin
"The sphere of sovereignty that property provides is a sphere necessary to the moral
autonomy of the person. Property forms a cushion of independence for each person from
the moral intrusiveness of other individuals and the state."
Private Property and Ethics
by Ludwig von Mises
"In seeking to demonstrate the social function and necessity of private ownership of
the means of production and of the concomitant inequality in the distribution of
income and wealth, we are at the same time providing proof of the moral justification
for private property and for the capitalist social order based upon it."
Private Property, Freedom and the West
by James Gwartney
Rothbardian Ethics
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
"As simple as the solution to the problem of social order is and as much as people
in their daily lives intuitively recognize and act according to the ethics of
private property just explained, this simple and undemanding solution implies some
surprisingly radical conclusions. For, apart from ruling out as unjustified all
activities such as murder, homicide, rape, trespass, robbery, burglary, theft, and
fraud, the ethics of private property is also incompatible with the existence of a
state defined as an agency that possesses a compulsory territorial monopoly of
ultimate decision-making (jurisdiction) and/or the right to tax."
The Source of Rights
November 1984
by Frank Chodorov
"Whatever else socialism is, or is claimed to be, its first tenet is the denial of
private property. All brands of socialism, and there are many, are agreed that property
rights must be vested in the political establishment. None of the schemes identified
with this ideology, such as the nationalization of industry, or socialized medicine,
or the abolition of free choice, or the planned economy, can become operative if the
individual’s claim to his property is recognized by the government."
The Undeniable Morality of Capitalism
by N. Stephan Kinsella
A review essay of The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in
Political Economy and Philosophy by Hans-Hermann Hoppe.
Help the Third World -- Protect Property Rights
February 23, 2010
by Doug Bandow
"Much goes into the process of economic development. One of the most important factors
is the protection of property rights, both physical and intellectual. Today the Property
Rights Alliance (PRA) released its latest annual International Property Rights Index
(IPRI), written by Victoria Strokova, with contributions from many others. Countries
which do the most to strengthen property rights have the best economic results."
Property and Prosperity: The Vital Link
January 2004
by Tibor R. Machan
"It doesn’t seem to occur to these critics of liberty that without the right
to private property it is not possible to choose to pursue those allegedly
higher goals. A slave or serf or hostage isn’t at liberty to elect to do
whatever is deemed to be his duty."
Why the Poor Need Property Rights
October 2002
by Jim Peron
"Street traders represent the beginning of what de Soto calls "a long march" to
capitalism. When hampered and harassed by government, the natural evolution of property
rights is prevented. The result is decline and decay. But when, instead of controlling,
government acts as a protector of property rights, then street trading is the first step
toward prosperity."
Environmental Takings of Private Water Rights: the Case for Full Water
Privatization
by Roy Whitehead and Walter Block
The Ownership And Control Of Water
November 1955
by de Tocqueville
"My primary purpose in writing this letter is to solicit ideas from you or members of
your staff on a problem which is currently engaging my interest and part of my time.
I am endeavoring to appraise legal systems by which water resources are allocated. The
primary criterion in making this appraisal is whether or not these systems are conducive
to efficient utilization of water resources. My first impression is that a system which
places water resources in private hands and relies on consumer choice and free
competition will be most conducive to efficient utilization of such resources."
Murray Rothbard responded to this letter.
See
Concerning Water.
Who Owns Water?
March 1956
by Murray N. Rothbard
"It is immediately clear that the route to justice lies along the appropriation
rather than the riparian path. Why riparian? What claim does a landowner have
to any part of a stream just because his land adjoins the stream? No moral claim
whatever. His riparian claim is not based on his having made use of the water; in
fact, his only purpose seems to be to block anyone else from using the water, and
the result is criminal waste of rivers and streams."
Communal vs. Private Property Rights
February 1988
by James D. Gwartney and Richard L. Stroup
"The following examples, ranging from the sixteenth century to the present day, and
from cultures as diverse as the American Indians and Communist Russia, illustrate the
value of private property rights and the difficulties posed by communal property."
A Plea for Public Property
by Roderick T. Long
Natural rights supports public property as well as private property.
Public Goods Fallacies: False Justifications for Government
by Francois-Rene Rideau
This article exposes economic and moral fallacies used to
justify state intervention in the market.
The World's Biggest Oxymoron
by Jim Davies
"It permeates our society . . . alas. It's 'public property.'"
Just Zone Out
by John Robson
"Jane Jacobs was a legend for a reason - she was on to something."
Zoning Laws Destroy Communities
April 30, 2010
by Troy Camplin
"Zoning laws are a violation of property rights. They destroy the sense of community in
neighborhoods, increase crime, increase traffic congestion, contribute to urban and
suburban air pollution, contribute to poverty, contribute to reliance in government — and,
thus, reduce self-reliance — and contribute to the ruin of our schools."