Concept of Property in Political Science

The long history of human civilisation on its material side centres around the idea of property and ownership from the days immemorial when civilised man began to claim possession of his tools, ornaments. and other personal articles concerned with what matters as income and inheritance. The concept of property has been an important factor in the evolution of civilisation. All ideologies fight their doctrinal battles around the concept of property.

MacIver makes a distinction between property for use and property for power. In very early times, property was generally held for use and not for power. Private Property is comparatively recent in origin and Collective Property was the universal order in early days.

The views of MacIver are that there was private property as regard to personal belongings but there was no universal rule regarding property in land.

In primitive society, land was either collective property, or private property, or the two notions were combined together. In either case, it was held for use and not for power. 

The actual evolution of property rights show that it was not simply the creation of state, it had its beginning even before the appearance of state on historical stage.

In the Greek World, scheme of community of wives and a system of common property was suggested by Plato.

Communism prohibited private property to the ruling class and radically altered the accepted man-woman relationship.

The rulers were required to live and dive together. The scheme of communism in republic of Plato was applicable only to the ruling class and other classes were left for their property and wives. 

Aristotle was not opposed to institution of private property but he recommended its communal views.

The cynics renowned private property.

In his book “Prince”, Machiavelli conveyed the extreme love of men for private property in words, “Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.”

In his book, “The Sin Books of the Republic”, published in 1576, Jean Bodin wrote that family was a natural unit in which right of private property was inherent.

Bodin made right to property a natural right.

The view of Hobbes was that the state was created for security of man’s property.

John Locke proposes his theory of property right in the “Second Treatise of Government”, published in 1690. Here, Locke permits individuals to appropriate use of material resources and worldly things like land.

With the emergence of Capitalism, a new wealth and concept of property emerged and it was unlimited right to property.

Liberal Theory of Property:

Liberal theory of property is based on the basic assumptions that property is the reward of one’s labour. The justification of private property is that it gives incentive to labour. Any individual who is capable and hardworking can accumulate property in a free market society.

Among the liberal thinkers, John Locke was the chief exponent of the theory of property as the fruit of labour. His view was supported by various liberal writers like Adam Smith, JS Mill and Green.

Locke made property not only natural right but also legal right. He also imposed certain restrictions on the Right to Property –

1. One must leave enough for others.
2. Private property can only be that in which man has mixed his own labour.

The law of nature provided that state was a system of rights and obligations. The natural rights included the rights to life, liberty, and property. The greatest of these rights was the right to property. Property was an essential attribute of personality.

Marxian Theory of Property:

The early socialists like St. Simon, attacked the liberal concept of property. He declared that the liberals were deceiving themselves with abstract fictions. However, he was not in favour of total abolition of private property. He was in favour of a drastic reform of ownership in land and not property held as capital. Some were opposed to property both in the form of land and capital. For some property was “Theft.”

Mark and Engels carried the attack and advocated the abolition of private property by means of a revolution led by the working classes.

The Marxian view is that private property has not existed from eternity. It did not exist under the early social stage. For them, the private property divides the society into “Haves” and “Have-Nots”.

Private property is a divisive force. It is a source of conflict. It is a mode of exploitation and not co-operation.

Marxism makes a distinction between two kind of properties, Personal Property and Private Property.

Personal Property is the genuine fruit of an individual’s labour. This property is to remain intact and is not attacked by the Marxists.

Marxism does not stand for the abolition of all property but only for private property, with its exploitation in all spheres of social production. Marxism does not aim at the reform of the system of private property. It demands its abolition as it considers it to be the enemy of the society.

According to Marx, private property is the enemy of self-realisation of man.