Editing Property law (section)

===Natural rights and property===
In his ''[[Two Treatises of Government|Second Treatise on Government]]'', English philosopher [[John Locke]] asserted the right of an individual to own one part of the world, when, according to the [[Bible]], God gave the world to all humanity in common.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Locke, John|title=Second treatise of government|date=1980|publisher=Hackett Pub. Co|others=Macpherson, C. B. (Crawford Brough), 1911-1987.|isbn=0-915144-93-X|edition=1st|location=Indianapolis, Ind.|oclc=6278220}}</ref> He claimed that although persons belong to God, they own the fruits of their labor. When a person works, that labor enters into the object. Thus, the object becomes the property of that person. However, Locke conditioned property on the [[Lockean proviso]], that is, "there is enough, and as good, left in common for others".

[[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] Justice [[James Wilson (Founding Father)|James Wilson]] undertook a survey of the philosophical grounds of American property law in 1790 and 1791. He proceeds from two premises: "Every crime includes an injury: every injury includes a violation of a right." (Lectures III, ii.) The government's role in protecting property depends upon an idea of right. Wilson believes that "man has a [[Natural rights and legal rights|natural right]] to his property, to his character, to liberty, and to safety."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/of-the-natural-rights-of-individuals/|title=Of the Natural Rights of Individuals {{!}} Teaching American History|website=teachingamericanhistory.org|language=en|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2018-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702150821/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/of-the-natural-rights-of-individuals/|url-status=live}}</ref> He also indicates that "the primary and principal object in the institution of government... was... to acquire a new security for the possession or the recovery of those rights".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeexAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA192 |title=The Founders on God and Government|last1=Dreisbach|first1=Daniel L.|last2=Hall|first2=Mark D.|last3=Morrison|first3=Jeffry H.|date=2004-10-08|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=9780742580466|language=en}}</ref>

Wilson states that: "Property is the right or lawful power, which a person has to a thing." He then divides the right into three degrees: possession, the lowest; possession and use; and, possession, use, and disposition – the highest. Further, he states: "Useful and skillful industry is the soul of an active life. But industry should have her just reward. That reward is property, for of useful and active industry, property is the natural result." From this simple reasoning he is able to present the conclusion that exclusive, as opposed to communal property, is to be preferred. Wilson does, however, give a survey of communal property arrangements in history, not only in colonial [[Virginia]] but also ancient [[Sparta]].