This important research review considers the seminal legal articles in property law and its subtopics published during the 20th and 21st centuries. The coverage is broad, as comprehensive as possible, ranging from theoretical to practical and doctrinal. The authors of the pieces under discussion are primarily American and all stand as leading figures in their respective fields. The text places its focus on topics of current interest, including economic and non-economic theories of property, the takings problem, and the reform of the law of land-use servitudes.

First Published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor and Francis, an informa company.

This collection on the privatization of property ownership seeks to explore the middle ground between state socialism and corporate capitalism. "A Fourth Way?" examines the transition to market economies in post-Communist Eastern Europe and considers Western experiences with alternative forms of ownership. The contributors to this study argue that neither the market alone nor state planning is adequate, in economic or moral terms, as the exclusive means to regulate the economy. Several essays focus on the impediments to the transition to market economies in Poland, Hungary and Germany. Others consider the problems of active participation, self-governance and domination involved in some forms of private ownership. The editors propose a new conception of property, and the possibility of a "fourth way" that mediates between classical liberalism and state socialism. They discuss new modes of ownership in the context of housing, industrial property and other areas of social life which avoid the unfortunate connotations associated in the past with the notion of a "third way".

This book surveys the leading modern theories of property - Lockean, libertarian, utilitarian/law-and-economics, personhood, Kantian and human flourishing - and then applies those theories to concrete contexts in which property issues have been especially controversial. These include redistribution, the right to exclude, regulatory takings, eminent domain and intellectual property. The book highlights the Aristotelian human flourishing theory of property, providing the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to that theory to date. The book's goal is neither to cover every conceivable theory nor to discuss every possible facet of the theories covered. Instead, it aims to make the major property theories comprehensible to beginners, without sacrificing accuracy or sophistication. The book will be of particular interest to students seeking an accessible introduction to contemporary theories of property, but even specialists will benefit from the book's lucid descriptions of contemporary debates.

This book surveys the leading modern theories of property - Lockean, libertarian, utilitarian/law-and-economics, personhood, Kantian and human flourishing - and then applies those theories to concrete contexts in which property issues have been especially controversial. These include redistribution, the right to exclude, regulatory takings, eminent domain and intellectual property. The book highlights the Aristotelian human flourishing theory of property, providing the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to that theory to date. The book's goal is neither to cover every conceivable theory nor to discuss every possible facet of the theories covered. Instead, it aims to make the major property theories comprehensible to beginners, without sacrificing accuracy or sophistication. The book will be of particular interest to students seeking an accessible introduction to contemporary theories of property, but even specialists will benefit from the book's lucid descriptions of contemporary debates.

Most people understand property as something that is owned, a means of creating individual wealth. But in "Commodity and Propriety," the first full-length history of the meaning of property, Gregory Alexander uncovers in American legal writing a competing vision of property that has existed alongside the traditional conception. Property, Alexander argues, has also been understood as "proprietary," a mechanism for creating and maintaining a properly ordered society. This view of property has even operated in periods--such as the second half of the nineteenth century--when market forces seemed to dominate social and legal relationships.
In demonstrating how the understanding of property as a private basis for the public good has competed with the better-known market-oriented conception, Alexander radically rewrites the history of property, with significant implications for current political debates and recent Supreme Court decisions.

Countries around the world are heatedly debating whether property should be a constitutional right. But American lawyers have largely ignored this debate, which is divided into two clear camps: those who believe making property a constitutional right undermines democracy by fostering inequality, and those who believe it provides the security necessary to make democracy possible. In "The Global Debate over Constitutional Property," Gregory Alexander recasts this discussion, arguing that both sides overlook a key problem: that constitutional protection, or lack thereof, has little bearing on how a society actually treats property.
A society's traditions and culture, Alexander argues, have a much greater effect on property rights. Laws must aim, then, to change cultural ideas of property, rather than deem whether one has the right to own it. Ultimately, Alexander builds a strong case for improving American takings law by borrowing features from the laws of other countries--particularly those laws based on the idea that owning property not only confers rights, but also entails responsibilities to society as a whole.