The legal institution of property : its nature and basis

• Main Author: Bhalla, R. S.
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1977
• Subjects: 340
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.641586

The basic theme of this thesis in to find the basis of the institution of property and the varying forms that it has taken during the course of development. The institution of property has as its main function fulfilment of needs of individuals. In the course of development the needs of individuals came to be fulfilled in different ways ignoring the main idea of the institution of property as a means to the satisfaction of needs of individuals. With the social and economic changes the idea of exchange value was introduced into the institution of property. With this development the human labour power, acts and activities which could produce products for the market economy, came themselves to be regarded as an object of property. The idea of exchange value, especially in this sense, was a now importation into the institution of property, having little relation to the basic idea of property. Thus the idea of ownership as a category in social and economic order for the satisfaction of needs of individuals gave place to such social and legal categories as contract regarded as an incorporeal object functioning for the satisfaction of human needs not through the institution of property but through categories having no connection with the basic idea of the institution of property. Similarly the concept of the corporation as a form of ownership, further obscured the idea of control as an essence of ownership. Thus the forms of ownership which developed in the course of evolution of the institution of property lost contact with the basic idea of the institution of property - the satisfaction of needs of each individual. The institution of property came to be justified by reference to these juristic fictions rather than to the idea of satisfaction of needs of individuals. The author is arguing for the restoration of an understanding of the institution of property in terms of its proper function in satisfying needs of individuals.