Take a look at the question asked by the authors of our casebook on page 3 (second paragraph):
Does the label --that Mary is the "owner" of her car--"have any practical significance?"
What are your thoughts about the concept of private property rights and ownership? Does it have any legal significance? Moral significance? Where do property rights (ownership rights) come from? From the state? From nature? From God?
Should we say "Mary owns her car?"
Or should we say "the state allows Mary to use the car in her possession?"
What is the difference between those two phrases?
Again, the authors of the casebook chime in:
"Does that label have any practical significance? Is it not more realistic to refer to specific enforceable claims by Mary regarding the car?" (p. 3)
Does the label "Mary owns her 2020 Honda Accord" have moral significance?
Does it say to the world "This car is Mary's property and the state exists to protect Mary's unalienable right to own her property?" Remember the importance of the legal line between what is mine and what is yours.
Is private property a good thing? Or should we all just share everything in common?
Who would control what we eat, where we live, where we can travel, what we read, where we work, and where we worship God in a world without private property? Are property rights fundamentally important to liberty and autonomy?
