Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
The Irish Constitution’s wording on property rights does not suggest how property should be conceptualised in Irish constitutional jurisprudence while the case law shows that significant conceptual confusion has arisen in this area. This article engages with how certain theories of property conceptualise property and applies them in an Irish context. The article concludes that the view of property as a ‘bundle of rights’, in contrast to the Blackstone-associated view of property as one unified concept, is the position in Ireland. The article argues that consistent application of the bundle theory by Irish courts could clarify the property rights at issue in a given case. The article also claims that insights from property theory may assist with delineating where property rights end and freedom of contract begins. This latter question is relevant to whether certain contemporary political proposals to restrict the transfer of property to investment funds are constitutionally permissible.

€ (Westlaw)

James McGovern, ‘The “bundle of rights” theory of property: an Irish constitutional solution to a universal conceptual problem?’ (2024) 71 Irish Jurist 108-132.