Premium
Greek Lessons for Property Right Arrangements:
Author(s) -
Ackroyd Peter
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1992.tb02503.x
Subject(s) - greeks , property rights , law and economics , property (philosophy) , economic justice , law , political science , power (physics) , business , sociology , economics , epistemology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , financial economics
A bstract . Private property rights are often considered as being incompatible with justice , and similarly with protection for nature. Yet the coercive redefinition of property rights to provide explicitly for nature protection cannot be justified simply on the basis that there is now a social consensus favoring protection for nature. Lessons from the ancient Greeks show that justice follows the recognition of just conduct towards people and that there can be no certain knowledge of what arrangements best provide protection for nature. The use of public power to enforce rights determined through societal consensus is incompatible both with just conduct and the growth in knowledge necessary to protect nature.