Property Theory

"Property, or property rights, remains one of the most central elements in moral, legal, and political thought. It figures centrally in the work of figures as various as Grotius, Locke, Hume, Smith, Hegel and Kant. This collection of essays brings fresh perspective on property theory, from both legal and political theoretical perspectives, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the nature of property. Edited by two of the world's leading theorists of property, James Penner and Michael Otsuka, this volume brings together essays which consider, amongst other topics, property and public law, the importance of legal forms in property theory, whether use or exclusion are most essential to our understanding of property, distributive justice, Lockean and Grotian theories, the common ownership of the Earth, and Confucian ideas of property"-- "The theoretical consideration of property, and associated concepts such as possession and first acquisition, have long featured in legal and political philosophy, from the voluminous right- and left-libertarian literature which takes 'self-ownership' to be central, to the foundational positioning of property rights in the political theories of figures as diverse as Grotius, Locke, Hume, Smith, Hegel and Kant. The essays collected here show the continuing vigour of scholarship in this area"--