Property: Authority Without Office?

7 Pages Posted: 6 Sep 2023 Last revised: 30 Jan 2024

See all articles by Rutger Claassen

Rutger Claassen

Utrecht University Department of Philosophy

Larissa M. Katz

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law

Date Written: 2023

Abstract

In the history of political thought, the relationship between property and power has been a central preoccupation. The very nature of private property, on many accounts, is to put owners in a position of self-serving power to make decisions about matters of concern to others. In many legal systems, the vast power of owners is pervasive, as an ever greater range of resources is brought within the property regime and subjected to private power backed by the coercive power of the state. Political and legal philosophers have long puzzled over how to reconcile the nature of private property with the limits and social responsibilities upon which, at least for some accounts, property’s legitimacy depends. The perennial question, then, is how best to understand the nature of property such that property’s limits can also be accounted for coherently within our legal and constitutional arrangements.

Keywords: Property; Authority; Private Law; Jean-Philippe Robe; Property, Power, and Politics

Suggested Citation

Claassen, Rutger and Katz, Larissa M., Property: Authority Without Office? ( 2023). Claasen, R., & Katz, L. (2023). Property: Authority Without Office? Journal of Law and Political Economy, 3(3). http://dx.doi.org/10.5070/LP63361148 Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3336q1fw, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4558270

Rutger Claassen (Contact Author)

Utrecht University Department of Philosophy ( email )

Heidelberglaan 8
Utrecht, 3506 TC
Netherlands

Larissa M. Katz

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law ( email )

78 and 84 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5
Canada

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
57
Abstract Views
192
Rank
746,289
PlumX Metrics