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Property's Ends: The Publicness Of Private Law Values, Gregory S. Alexander
Property's Ends: The Publicness Of Private Law Values, Gregory S. Alexander
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
Property theorists commonly suppose that property has as its ends certain private values, such as individual autonomy and personal security. This Essay contends that property’s real end is human flourishing, that is, living a life that is as fulfilling as possible. Human flourishing, although property’s ultimate end, is neither monistic nor simple. Rather, it is inclusive and comprises multiple values. Those values, the content of human flourishing, derives, at least in part, from an understanding of the sorts of beings we are―social and political. A consequence of this conception of the human condition is that the values that constitute human …
Ownership And Obligations: The Human Flourishing Theory Of Property, Gregory S. Alexander
Ownership And Obligations: The Human Flourishing Theory Of Property, Gregory S. Alexander
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
Private property ordinarily triggers notions of individual rights, not social obligations. The core image of property rights, in the minds of most people, is that the owner has a right to exclude others and owes no further obligation to them. That image is highly misleading. Property owners owe far more responsibilities to others, both owners and non-owners, than the conventional imagery of property rights suggests. Property rights are inherently relational, and because of this characteristic, owners necessarily owe obligations to others. But the responsibility, or obligation, dimension of private ownership has been sorely under-theorised. Inherent in the concept of ownership …