Indigenous governments in Canada are increasingly authorized to adopt laws that convert communally held lands to individual fee simple. They will convert title to fee simple in order to obtain the economic benefits commonly associated with private ownership and its securitization. However,...

The results of 2012 clearly pointed to the fact that the classical set of problems specific to the Russian privatization – justification of the fair price for assets to be privatized, real motivation of the participants, determination of the criteria of selection of the buyer, ensuring of...

This article analyzes rights consciousness as distinct from legal consciousness, and uses the post-1989 housing restitution in Romania to study property rights consciousness as a type of rights consciousness. I argue that property rights consciousness is only partially an outcome of state power...

This paper finds that the existence of strong kinship networks tends to limit state interference with private property use in rural China by protecting villagers against unwanted government land takings. It then distinguishes kinship networks from other kinds of social networks by showing that...

The present work is a collection of essays. The first one is new, written for the collection. Then follows 7 separate essays of varying age. They are named * On the classifications of property rights * A property rights perspective on institutional change in the welfare state * On the nature of...

Protection of Property Rights has become a pressing issue in China since the country strived to move from a planned economy to a market economy in late 1970's. The passage of the Property Law of China on March 16, 2007 marked an historic change in the country from public to private in respect to...

Municipalities have become increasingly bold in their use of eminent domain. This sovereign power was once reserved for public works, but municipalities have increasingly used eminent domain for such putatively private projects as building factories, shopping malls, and upscale condominiums -...

Are property rights obtained through legally dubious means forever tainted with original sin or can rightholders make their ill-gotten gains legitimate by doing good works? This is a critical question for developing countries (and Russia in particular) where privatization is often opaque and...

From public lands to beaches and to data, our society is rich with resources purposefully kept in the public domain. Common resources provide profound economic, social, and democratic value to individuals, communities, and society as a whole. These, however, depend on the public’s ability to...

The issue of private copying, and how it fits with copyright law, has hit front and centre of the current copyright exceptions review. While copying is widespread, and iPods are popular, under current Australian copyright law, almost all private copying - including time-shifting and...