5 Theories of Property

The classic four theories — the standard long-answer of this unit:(a) Labour Theory (John Locke)Every person owns their body and hence their labour; when labour is mixed with unowned nature, the labourer acquires rights over the product — provided "enough and as good" is left for others. The farmer who tills common land earns it; the fisher who nets the fish owns the catch. Critique: the mixing metaphor is obscure (if I pour my tomato juice into the sea, do I own the sea?); it explains initial acquisition of movables but not the modern economy of titles and shares; historically, "improvement" arguments were used to justify dispossession of customary users — a critical point when studying land history in Nepal, where forest and pasture customarily used by communities were at times reclassified as State land in the name of scientific management.(b) Utilitarian Theory (Bentham; later Mill)Property has no natural basis; it is a creation of law justified purely by its consequences — security of expectation maximizes happiness by encouraging labour, investment and peace. Bentham's line deserves quotation: "property and law are born together, and die together." Before law, there is only possession and force; law converts expectation into right. Critique: makes property entirely contingent on utility — vulnerable to majoritarian redistribution; under-weights the person's attachment to particular things (the family…