Editing Property (section)

==Overview==
{{property law}}
Property is often defined by the code of the local [[sovereignty]] and protected wholly or - more usually, partially - by such entity, the owner being responsible for any remainder of protection. The [[Standard of proof|standards of the proof]] concerning proofs of ownerships are also addressed by the code of the local sovereignty, and such entity plays a role accordingly, typically [[Recorder of deeds|somewhat managerial]]. Some philosophers{{who|date=April 2012}} assert that property [[rights]] arise from [[Convention (norm)|social convention]], while others find justifications for them in [[morality]] or in [[natural law]].{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Various scholarly disciplines (such as [[law]], [[economics]], [[anthropology]] or [[sociology]]) may treat the concept more systematically, but definitions vary, most particularly when involving [[contract]]s. [[Positive law]] defines such rights, and the [[judiciary]] can adjudicate and enforce property rights.

According to [[Adam Smith]] (1723–1790), the expectation of profit from "improving one's stock of capital" rests on private-property rights.<ref>{{cite book |date=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Kw5vLbYq-4C&q=Adam+Smith,+the+expectation+of+profit+from+%22improving+one%27s+stock+of+capital%22+rests+on+private+property+rights&pg=PA355 |title=Understanding the Global Economy, Howard Richards (p. 355) |publisher=Peace Education Books |isbn= 978-0-9748961-0-6 }}</ref> [[Capitalism]] has as a central assumption that property rights encourage their holders to develop the property, generate [[wealth]], and efficiently allocate [[factors of production|resources]] based on the operation of markets. From this has evolved the modern conception of property as a right enforced by positive law, in the expectation that this will produce more wealth and better standards of living. However, Smith also expressed a very critical view of the effects of property laws on inequality:<ref>{{cite book |access-date=2011-12-15 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jH5bTCHDYTgC |title=An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations | page = 177 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company|isbn=0-87220-204-6 |year=1993 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|Wherever there is a great property, there is great inequality … Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.}}

In his 1881 text "The Common Law", [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]] describes property as having two fundamental aspects.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Common Law, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2449/2449-h/2449-h.htm |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> The first, possession, can be defined as control over a resource based on the practical inability to contradict the ends of the possessor. The second title is the expectation that others will recognize rights to control resources, even when not in possession. He elaborates on the differences between these two concepts and proposes a history of how they came to be attached to persons, as opposed to families or entities such as the church.
* [[Classical liberalism]] subscribes to the [[labor theory of property]]. Its proponents hold that individuals each own their own life; it follows that one must acknowledge the products of that life and that those products can be traded in free exchange with others.

:: "Every man has a property in his person. This nobody has a right to, but himself." ([[John Locke]], "[[Second Treatise on Civil Government]]", 1689)

:: "The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property." ([[John Locke]], "Second Treatise on Civil Government", 1689)

:: "Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." ([[Frédéric Bastiat]], [[The Law (1849 book)|''The Law'']], 1850)
* [[Conservatism]] subscribes to the concept that freedom and property are closely linked - building on traditions of thought that property guarantees freedom<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Mundy
 |first1               = John Hine
 |author-link1         = John Hine Mundy
 |editor-last1         = Davis
 |editor-first1        = Richard W.
 |year                 = 1995
 |chapter              = Medieval Urban Liberty
 |title                = The Origins of Modern Freedom in the West
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=7xF77M6VbVgC
 |series               = Making of modern freedom
 |publication-place    = Stanford, California
 |publisher            = Stanford University Press
 |page                 = 133
 |isbn                 = 9780804724746
 |access-date          = 4 April 2023
 |quote                = Rehearsing other Roman passages, [civilian jurists] found that private property guaranteed freedom by limiting princes and government.
}}
</ref> or causes freedom.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Fuglestad
 |first1               = Eirik Magnus
 |date                 = 1 June 2018
 |chapter              = America: 'Destined to Let Freedom Grow'
 |title                = Private Property and the Origins of Nationalism in the United States and Norway: The Making of Propertied Communities
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=Dh9eDwAAQBAJ
 |publication-place    = Cham, Switzerland
 |publisher            = Springer
 |page                 = 50
 |isbn                 = 9783319899503
 |access-date          = 4 April 2023
 |quote                = [ A quote from 1768] demonstrates again the centrality of property ownership to the colonists' concept of freedom: property was what made men free, and not 'slaves' or 'like beasts subdued by whips and goads.' [...] Property had the potential of creating independence for the individual because, by utilizing and shaping the earth through one's labor and having exclusive (property) right to it, one created the means to act freely in the world. [...] In a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote [...] thirty years after the American Revolution, he also expressed the importance of private property if an individual was to be free [...]. [...] Owning landed property could satisfy the wants and needs of the individual, this made him or her free.
}}
</ref> The more widespread the possession of the private property, conservatism propounds, the more stable and productive a state or nation is. Conservatives maintain that the economic leveling of property, especially of the forced kind, is not economic progress.

:: "Separate property from private possession and [[Leviathan]] becomes master of all... Upon the foundation of private property, great civilizations are built. The conservative acknowledges that the possession of property fixes certain duties upon the possessor; he accepts those moral and legal obligations cheerfully." ([[Russell Kirk]], ''The Politics of Prudence'', 1993)
* [[Socialism]]'s fundamental principles center on a critique of this concept, stating (among other things) that the cost of defending property exceeds the returns from private property ownership and that, even when property rights encourage their holders to develop their property or generate wealth, they do so only for their benefit, which may not coincide with advantage to other people or society at large.
* [[Libertarian Socialism]] generally accepts property rights with a short abandonment period. In other words, a person must make (more-or-less) continuous use of the item or else lose ownership rights. This is usually referred to as "possession property" or "[[usufruct]]." Thus, in this usufruct system, absentee ownership is illegitimate, and workers own the machines or other equipment they work with.
* [[Communism]] argues that only [[common ownership]] of the [[means of production]] will assure the minimization of unequal or unjust outcomes and the maximization of benefits and that; therefore humans should abolish private ownership of [[capital (economics)|capital]] (as opposed to property).

Both communism and some forms of socialism have also upheld the notion that private ownership of capital is inherently illegitimate. This argument centers on the idea that private ownership of capital always benefits one [[Social class|class]] over another, giving rise to domination through this privately owned capital. Communists do not oppose personal property that is "hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned" (as "[[The Communist Manifesto]]" puts it) by members of the [[proletariat]]. Both socialism and communism distinguish carefully between private ownership of capital (land, factories, resources, etc.) and private property (homes, material objects, and so forth).

=== Types of property ===
Most [[legal system]]s distinguish between different types of property, especially between land ([[immovable property]], [[estate in land]], [[real estate]], [[real property]]) and all other forms of property—[[goods]] and [[Personal property|chattels]], [[movable property]] or [[personal property]], including the [[Face value|value of legal tender]] if not the [[Legal tender|legal tender itself]], as the [[Currency#Control and production|manufacturer]] rather than the possessor might be the owner. They often distinguish [[tangible property|tangible]] and [[intangible property]]. One categorization scheme specifies three species of property: land, improvements (immovable man-made things), and personal property (movable man-made things).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/314.1|title=13 Code of Federal Regulations § 314.1 ("Definitions")|access-date=2021-05-09|website=Cornell University's Legal Information Institute|author-link=Economic Development Administration|quote=Property means Real Property, Personal Property and mixed Property. . . . Real Property means any land, whether raw or improved, and includes structures, fixtures, appurtenances and other permanent improvements, excluding moveable machinery and equipment. Real Property includes land that is served by the construction of Project infrastructure (such as roads, sewers, and water lines) where the infrastructure contributes to the value of such land as a specific purpose of the Project.}}</ref>

In [[common law]], [[real property]] ([[immovable property]]) is the combination of [[Rights|interests]] in land and improvements thereto, and [[personal property]] is interest in movable property. Real property rights are rights relating to the land. These rights include ownership and usage. Owners can grant rights to persons and entities in the form of [[lease]]s, [[license]]s, and [[easement]]s.

Throughout the last centuries of the [[2nd millennium|second millennium]], with the development of more complex theories of property, the concept of personal property had become divided{{By whom|date=May 2013}} into tangible property (such as [[Automobile|cars]] and [[clothing]]) and intangible property (such as [[financial asset]]s and related rights, including [[capital stock|stock]]s and [[Bond (finance)|bonds]]; [[intellectual property]], including [[patent]]s, [[copyright]]s and [[trademark]]s; [[digital file]]s; [[communication channel]]s; and certain forms of [[identifier]], including [[domain name|Internet domain names]], some forms of [[network address]], some forms of [[Call sign|handle]] and again trademarks).

Treatment of intangible property is such that an article of property is, by law or otherwise by traditional conceptualization, subject to expiration even when [[Inheritance|inheritable]], which is a key distinction from tangible property. Upon expiration, the property, if of the intellectual category, becomes a part of [[public domain]], to be used by but not owned by anybody, and possibly used by more than one party simultaneously due to the inapplicability of [[scarcity]] to intellectual property. Whereas things such as communications channels and pairs of electromagnetic spectrum bands and signal transmission power can only be used by a single party at a time, or a single party in a divisible context, if owned or used. Thus far or usually, those are not considered property, or at least not private property, even though the party bearing right of exclusive use may transfer that right to another.

In many societies the [[human body]] is considered property of some kind or other. The question of the ownership and rights to one's body arise in general in the discussion of [[human rights]], including the specific issues of [[slavery]], [[conscription]], rights of children under the [[age of majority]], [[marriage]], [[abortion]], [[prostitution]], [[drugs]], [[euthanasia]] and [[organ donation]].