ABSTRACT
Property is all about boundaries. The law of property is, in large measure, a matter of drawing boundary lines, and doing so in a variety of ways. Most obviously, it facilitates boundary definition in physical spaces, but there are other, more subtle ways in which property law is in the business of boundary-drawing. There are legal boundaries between different sorts of property interests in assets, such as those drawn in the law of easements. Property law must also draw boundary lines between itself and other cognate fields of law, including the law of contracts.
In defining legal boundaries in these ways, property law also defines social boundaries. That is, it establishes the parameters of relations between and among individuals. The law of property exists in large measure because people commonly interact with each other with respect to things. When such social interaction occurs, the relationships between such interacting parties can be mutually agreeable and beneficial, but in other cases they are constant sources of friction and frustration. In establishing boundaries, property law endeavors to minimize such negative encounters. It delineates the precise nature and contours of assets, defines property rights, and pronounces the obligations owed to others having mutual interests in assets. This is all the familiar terrain of property law, and it is all a matter of setting boundaries …
Alexander, Gregory S, Property’s Boundaries (2023), in Research Handbook on Property Law and Theory (Bevan, ed) (Edward Elgar, Forthcoming); Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper 23-21.
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