PSC 341 Locke and Private Property

Locke's Second Treatise Of Government: Bk. II, Ch. V, is heavily laden with reference of creationism and heir succession of Adam establishing the foundation and platform in which his argument is grounded. According to Locke, (Pg. 293, 26-28) "God who hath given the world to men...make use...to the best convenience." The extent of this argument continues, to say that once a wild Indian consumes what he has collected, that no other can have any right to it (Pg 293. 26, 6th line from the bottom.) Men have property in there own person and must do what is necessary to sustain. In point 28, Locke questions when property has been aquisitioned so, concluding that labor is the factor that determines ownership. The fact that what the individual has collected of the common, be it fruit, grain or animal- all had access to those that occur in the state of nature, but the act of removal from the common and the state of nature "begins the property". At the end of point 28, "the grass my horse bit...the ore I digged...becomes my property with out the assignation or consent of any body... through the labor that was mine". Again labor is the distinction in property.

Locke's argument continues to express the limitations to ownership/property of common lands. (Pg. 298, 46, line 15) If one gathers more than his capability of consumption, unless through exchange of items that cannot degrade, and the items deteriorate into waste, that individual has been dishonest and robbed from others. If the individual so chooses to "trade items near expiry for wool, or sparkling pebble...and keep those all his life, he invaded not the rights of others" The exceeding of his property lies almost solely in the perishabilty of the property. Possession is nine tenths of the law or waste not want not, maybe not quite what Locke was thinking but still applicable to today.