Philosophical Foundations of Property Law

• All new articles from leading figures in the field of property law.
• Serves as an introduction to the subject of philosophical foundations of property law and offers a 'state of play' in philosophising about property
• Coverage of both philosophical traditions in relation to property and particular topics of possession, transmissibility of rights and ownership

Property has long played a central role in political and moral philosophy. Philosophers dealing with property have tended to follow the consensus that property has no special content but is a protean construct - a mere placeholder for theories aimed at questions of distributive justice and efficiency. Until recently there has been a relative absence of serious philosophical attention paid to the various doctrines that shape the actual law of property. If the philosophy of property is to be more attentive to concepts lying between broad considerations of political philosophy and distributive justice on the one hand and individual rules on the other, what in this broad space needs explaining, and how might we justify what we find?

The papers in this volume are a first step towards filling this gap in the philosophical analysis of private law. This is achieved here by revisiting the contributions of philosophers such as Hume, Locke, Kant, and Grotius and revealing how particular doctrines illuminate the way in which property law respects the equality and autonomy of its subjects. Secondly, by exploring the central notions of possession, ownership, and title and finally by considering the very foundations of conceptualism in property.

Readership: This book is ideal for moral, legal and political philosophers. It also provides a resource for both students of law and philosophy, and for teachers of property law and theory of property.