Laws of Property : Theories about the Nature and Concept of Property

This book discusses the ‘theory of dematerialised property’, a constructivist property theory that applies to tangible and intangible property alike.

It explains the way in which this theory regards ‘property’ as a creation of the law, whereby the property object (res) is a normative conception brought into existence by the property rights in it, and an actual corporeal thing is merely a practical incidence of the abstract-normative idea of the property object. The discussion of dematerialised property is founded on a theoretical examination of definitions, terminologies and concepts of property, particularly ownership and possession, and restricted real rights, as well as a comparative law overview of concepts of ownership and the acquisition and transfer of property rights in the different Common law and Civil law property systems.

The concept of dematerialised property serves as a good theoretical basis for explaining and defining forms of tangible and particularly intangible property, like debts, money and shares, and modern forms of property, such as electronic money, non-fungible tokens or data. The book also features the ideas of property theorists in law and in political philosophy, such as the classical theories by Grotius, Pufendorf, Locke and Hegel, and it revisits modern legal theories of property. It then deals with economic, sociological and psychological dimensions of property which are behind the legal concept of property, aspects that are generally disregarded in traditional texts on property theory.