property rights, rural communities, land ownership, government lands, state lands, crown lands, usufruct rights, Magna Carta, land tenure, food security, land use regulation, common property management, common property resources, closed access, open access, controlled access, private property, state property, international property, communal property, joint property management, exclusive property management, land security, partial subtractibility, natural resources, customary law, land rights

Definition

Private property rights have been part of societies for hundreds of years. They are contested arenas of power. Private property provides private goods with closed access to others. Private property can be contrasted with international, state, and communal property, which provide common goods and have controlled access. The extreme contrast is open access lands with neither management nor rules. Economists speak of the "jointness" and "exclusivity" of public goods (e.g. land, water), while some advocates believe in total exclusivity; anything can be extracted or modified on their private property. Most nations believe that property rights are granted by the government and can be modified for the greater good. In the American West, for instance, the government may hold subsurface mineral rights, while the property owner holds surface rights. Sustainability reinforces the legitimacy of the common goods approach to property because land and water should be protected for future generations. Sustainable land ownership is more a "usufruct" right (use right) than an absolute right. Throughout the world, property rights remain contentious.