Private Law Theory

INTRODUCTION
… In the course of investigating definitions of property, the present Article is principally concerned with a legally-orientated analysis of property’s essence. It is not focused upon the equally important normative question of how property should be used. The two areas of discourse are, however, closely aligned. A definition of property, whatever its contours might be, is by necessity inducted into normative theories as they advocate for specific property-owning regimes. Moreover, if it is accepted that social mores and norms might limit property, then normative theories will surely inform these limitations. To reiterate, however, the present Article’s principal function is to provide a legally-orientated analysis of property’s essence – not to provide a normative account of how property should be used …

Glen Anderson, Towards an Essentialist Legal Definition of Property, 68 DePaul Law Review (Spring 2019).

First posted 2019-06-26 12:15:27