The Idea of Property Its Meaning and Power [Hardcover]

This book examines the central issue in property theory, as it intersects with law: what property is, as an idea, and the power that claimed individual property rights should have against competing public goals. Drawing upon areas as diverse as land use, the body as property, personal information as property, cultural property, and state redistributive claims, the author shows that there are deep reasons for property's protective power, or lack of it, in these and other cases.

Property as Idea: The Hidden Structure of Property in Law
1. What Is Property? The Question Posed
2. Property's Four Dimensions: Theory, Space, Stringency, and Time
Property as Protection: The Clash Between Property Rights and Competing Public Interests
3. The Power of Property Claims in Law: The Emergence of Two Visions
4. Two Conceptions of Property: Their (Hidden) Influence in Law
5. The Variable Power of Rights: A Normative Hypothesis
6. Predicting the Power of Claimed Rights: A Two-Tiered Model
7. The Variable Power of Property Rights: Explaining the (Otherwise) Inexplicable in Law
8. Moving to More Uncharted and Controversial Waters: The Body as Property, Personal Information as Property, Cultural Property, and State Redistributive Claims
9. Property, Speech, and the Politics of Presumptive Power
10. Reimagining Public Interests: A Cautionary Note
11. Reprise: Two Conceptions of Property -- When and Why They are Used in Law
Property as a Constitutional Right: New Directions
12. The Justice Content of Property: Constitutional Implications
13. Doctrinal Payoffs: New Approaches to Takings Law
14. The Constitutional Protection of Property: Some Final Thoughts