Philosophers have often made the claim that individuals have a natural right to property. For example, John Locke wrote:
“Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state nature hath placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other men: for this labour being the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to.”
Beginning with the assumed right to self-ownership, Locke explains that whatever unowned matter an individual directs his labor towards becomes the property of that individual. By implication then, any property that is exchanged for property or money with another individual also becomes the owned property of the new purchaser.
Neglected Property Rights
Although this line of thinking tends to make sense, I have noticed a common situation where people will often blatantly neglect to consider any sort of individual property rights. When one person takes offense at a particular government action, others will often chide this person, saying something along the lines of, “Well, if you don’t like how it is here in this country, you can go live somewhere else.” (For whatever reason, Somalia seems to be the commonly referred place of relocation.)
The primary problem with this line of reasoning is that it completely ignores the individual’s right to his property. Assuming the individual properly purchased or otherwise obtained the land and house that he lives on, why should this person have to give up what is rightful his? If the right to property is a natural right then it would supersede government decree.
