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.