[It2001] NUMBER ONE Success System

[Tommy Lee]

http://www.noss123.com/

Early American theory

James Wilson, Supreme Court Justice and professor of law at the University
of Pennsylvania, in 1790 and 1791, undertook a survey of the philosophical
grounds of American property law. He proceeds from two premises: "Every
crime includes an injury: every injury includes a violation of a right."
(Lectures, III, ii.) The government's role in protecting property depends
upon an idea of right. Wilson traces the history of property in his essay On
the History of Property. In his lecture, "Of the natural rights of
individuals," (Lectures II, xii) he articulates related contemporary theory.

That theory was brought to a focus on the question of whether man exists for
the sake of government, or government for the sake of man – a distinction
which may derive from, or lead to, the question of natural and absolute
rights, and whether property is one of them. While he doubts this is so, he
nonetheless states: "In his unrelated state, man has a natural right to his
property, to his character, to liberty, and to safety." James Wilson asks
whether "the primary and principal object in the institution of government…
was… to acquire new rights by human establishment? Or was it, by a human
establishment, to acquire a new security for the possession or the recovery
of those rights….?" He indicates a preference for the latter.

In the opening sentence of On the History of Property, he states quite
clearly: "Property is the right or lawful power, which a person has to a
thing." He then divides the right into three degrees: possession, the
lowest; possession and use; and, possession, use, and disposition – the
highest. Further, he states: "Man is intended for action. Useful and skilful
industry is the soul of an active life. But industry should have her just
reward. That reward is property, for of useful and active industry, property
is the natural result." From this simple reasoning he is able to present the
conclusion that exclusive, as opposed to communal property, is to be
preferred. Wilson does, however, give a survey of communal property
arrangements in history, not only in colonial Virginia but also ancient
Sparta.
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