WASHINGTON, November 25, 2009--"How can we most effectively weaken property rights?” This is the leading question in a recent scholarly paper by two law professors (Jonathan Remy Nash, of Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, and Stephanie Stern, of Chicago-Kent College of Law).

"Stripped of modern economics parlance, the authors have written a guidebook on redefining property rights as social permissions,” writes Tom Bowden with the Ayn Rand Center. “It’s all about ‘framing,’ which here refers to how property rights are regarded intellectually. The first step toward eroding any sense of personal attachment to rights, the authors say, is to avoid describing property as a ‘discrete asset’ over which the owner has dominion. In place of dominion comes the bundle. ‘Under the bundle approach,’ the authors write, ‘property consists of a bundle of sticks: each stick represents a right to occupy, use, sell, exclude others from, or deploy property in some way.’

“Here’s how the authors sum it up: ‘[F]raming property as bundles of rights and forewarning of limitations weakens perceptions of ownership and decreases resistance to subsequent restrictions.’

“Do you see how the cozy ‘bundle of sticks’ metaphor softens the blow when society decides that the freedom to use your own property must be curtailed? After all, if you have a bundle of a hundred sticks and one is removed, you still have ninety-nine sticks.

“It’s vital to see how the ‘bundle of rights’ approach obliterates property rights as a moral principle. In truth, property rights are inviolable moral principles, protecting each individual’s sovereign right to keep the material values he earns and use them to support his life. This principle is violated when the very first ‘stick’ is removed - that is, when property rights are infringed for the very first time.”

http://blog.aynrandcenter.org/how-can-we-most-effectively-weaken-property-rights-part-2/

Thomas Bowden is an analyst at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, focusing on legal issues. http://aynrandcenter.org/

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