Abstract
Property Theory is the work of two distinguished law professors at Cornell University. Its intention is to introduce undergraduate students in Law to the key theoretical approaches that underlie the sorts of disputes and adjudications that eventually manifest themselves in everyday legal disputes. It is a book of two halves. Having essayed what property is and what a property theory is in the Introduction, in Part I the authors outline five sorts of property theory: utilitarian, Lockean/libertarian, Hegelian, Kantian and Aristotelian (the latter being grounded in the principle of securing human flourishing). In Part II, the authors survey four key issue areas in property disputes: government redistribution, the right to exclude, eminent domain, and ‘takings’ and intellectual property rights. In each case, they survey the identified field through the several property lenses established in Part I.
Overall, this is a really useful resource for students (and others) interested in the politics of property. Almost all the thinkers discussed here, from Aristotle to Richard Epstein, appear ubiquitously in contemporary political discussions of the theory of property. Indeed, it is one of those areas where law and politics overlap substantially (which is perhaps why so much of the best contemporary political writing on property is undertaken by those working in American law schools). Throughout, the authors offer concise but thoughtful sketches of the various positions they identify. They give a little more space to utilitarianism-reflecting its importance in most discussions – and a little priority to Aristotelian accounts of human flourishing (which they identify as their preferred approach) – but generally the approach is well-balanced and fairly comprehensive.
Overall, Part I probably works better than Part II. Although the second half is in some sense devoted to applications, it does get caught somewhere between the generalities of Part I and the specific case-by-case approach that such a rubric might seem to require. The treatment of intellectual property, for example, is just too truncated to really do the work required of it. But, as a brief yet sophisticated and clear introduction to the most crucial issues at stake in diverse contemporary approaches to property thinking, this is an excellent and fairly unique resource.