Editing Property law (section)

=== Property rights ===
There are two main views on the right to property, the traditional view and the [[bundle of rights]] view.<ref>Henry E. Smith, ''Exclusion Versus Governance: Two Strategies for Delineating Property Rights'', 31 J. Legal Stud. S453 (2002).</ref> The traditionalists believe that there is a core, inherent meaning in the concept of property, while the bundle of rights view states that the property owner only has bundle of permissible uses over the property.<ref name=":0" /> The two views exist on a spectrum and the difference may be a matter of focus and emphasis.<ref name=":0" />

[[William Blackstone]], in his ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]],'' wrote that the essential core of property is the right to exclude.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Blackstone, William|title=Commentaries on the laws of England, volume 2 : of the rights of things (1766)|date=14 July 2015|isbn=978-0-226-16294-2|location=Chicago|oclc=913869367}}</ref> That is, the owner of property must be able to exclude others from the thing in question, even though the right to exclude is subject to limitations.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Penner, J. E. (James E.)|title=The idea of property in law|date=1997|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=0-19-826029-6|location=Oxford|oclc=35620409}}</ref> By implication, the owner can use the thing, unless another restriction, such as zoning law, prevents it.<ref name=":0" /> Other traditionalists argue that three main rights define property: the right to exclusion, use and transfer.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Epstein, Richard Allen|title=Takings : private property and the power of eminent domain|date=1985|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=0-674-86728-9|location=Cambridge, Mass.|oclc=12079263}}</ref>

An alternative view of property, favored by [[Legal realism|legal realists]], is that property simply denotes a [[bundle of rights]] defined by law and social policy.<ref name=":0" /> Which rights are included in the bundle known as property rights, and which bundles are preferred to which others, is simply a matter of policy.<ref name=":0" /> Therefore, a government can prevent the building of a factory on a piece of land, through zoning law or criminal law, without damaging the concept of property.<ref name=":0" /> The "bundle of rights" view was prominent in academia in the 20th century and remains influential today in American law.<ref name=":0" />