Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2009
Abstract
For legal scholars, the evolution of property rights has been a topic in search of a theory. My aim here is to draw together various accounts (some of them largely neglected in the legal literature), from dated to modern, and suggest a way they can be melded into a plausible explanation of property's genesis and early development. What results hardly amounts to a theory, but it does suggest an outline for one. Moreover, it provides a primer on the subject, a reasonably solid foundation for thinking and talking about the evolution of property rights.
Recommended Citation
Krier, James E. "Evolutionary Theory and the Origin of Property Rights." Cornell L. Rev. 95, no. 1 (2009): 139-59.