Commodity & Propriety
Competing Visions of Property in American Legal Thought, 1776-1970
Published on 3. February 1998
Book
Hardback
496 pages
978-0-226-01353-4 (ISBN)
Description
Most people understand property as something that is owned, a means of creating individual wealth. However, in this text a history of the meaning of property, Gregory Alexander uncovers in American legal writing a competing vision of property that has existed alongside the traditional conception. Property, Alexander argues, has also been understood as "proprietary", a mechanism for creating and maintaining a properly-ordered society. This view of property has even operated in periods such as the second half of the 19th century, when market forces seemed to dominate social and legal relationships. In demonstrating how the understanding of property as a private basis for the public good has competed with the better-known market-oriented conception, the author of this book rewrites the history of property, with significant implications for current political debates and recent Supreme Court decisions.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 23 mm
Width: 16 mm
Thickness: 4 mm
Weight
879 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-226-01353-4 (9780226013534)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Gregory S. Alexander
Commodity & Propriety
Competing Visions of Property in American Legal Thought, 1776-1970
E-Book
04/2008
1st Edition
University of Chicago Press
€62.29
Available for download
Content
Acknowledgments Introduction Pt. 1: The Civic Republican Culture, 1776-1800 Prologue: Legal Writing in the Civic Republican Era 1: Thomas Jefferson and the Civic Conception of Property 2: Time, History, and Property in the Republican Vision 3: Descent and Dissent from the Civic Meaning of Property Pt. 2: The Commercial Republican Culture, 1800-1860 Prologue: Legal Writing in the Commercial Republican Era 4: "Liberality" vs. "Technicality": Statutory Revision of Land Law in the Jacksonian Age 5: James Kent and the Ambivalent Romance of Commerce 6: Antebellum Statutory Law Reform Revisited: The Married Women's Property Laws 7: Ambiguous Entrepreneurialism: The Rise and Fall of Vested Rights in the Antebellum Era 8: Commodifying Humans: Property in the Antebellum Legal Discourse of Slavery Pt. 3: The Industrial Culture, 1870-1917 Prologue: Legal Writing in the Age of Enterprise 9: The Dilemma of Property in Public Law during the Age of Enterprise: Power and Democracy 10: The Dilemma of Property in the Private Sphere: Alienability and Paternalism Pt. 4: The Late Modern Culture, 1917-1970 Prologue: Legal Writing in the Twentieth Century - The Demise of Legal Autonomy 11: Socializing Property: The Influence of Progressive-Realist Legal Thought 12: Property in the Welfare State: Postwar Legal Thought, 1945-1970 Epilogue Notes Index