The labor theory of property or labor theory of appropriation or labor theory of ownership is a natural law theory that holds that property originally comes about by the exertion of labor upon natural resources. It is also called the principle of first appropriation or the homestead principle.
In his Second Treatise on Government, the philosopher John Locke asked by what right an individual can claim to own one part of the world, when, according to the Bible, God gave the world to all humanity in common. He answered that persons own themselves and therefore their own labor. When a person works, that labor enters into the object. Thus, the object becomes the property of that person.
Read more about Labor Theory Of Property: Exclusive Ownership and Creation, Enclosure Vs Mixing Labor, Acquisition Vs Mixing Labor
Famous quotes containing the words labor, theory and/or property:
“The labor we delight in physics pain.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Could Shakespeare give a theory of Shakespeare?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may equally be said to have a property in his rights.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)