UF (17) — Homesteading: An Addendum

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On UF.

The homestead principle is an extension of the principle of self-ownership, which we have discussed here and here.

Again, what is at work is a rather outdated  proclivity to treat workable human arrangements as if they were relatively simple and clear-cut structures capable of being reduced to a perfectly consistent causal order.

In reality, human arrangements tend to evolve over time, often leaving much space for indeterminate, controversial and less than satisfactory outcomes. It is the hallmark of an ideology to deny such openness and advertise the strength of one's creed as providing apodictic truth and a complete solution. 

Homesteading  — An Addendum

The principle of homesteading establishes that property is legally created by an act of original appropriation or initial use, that is if the initial appropriator puts to use the object in question (a piece of land e.g.) by his own efforts and in a productive manner.

The principle of homesteading is of limited usefulness, even if one disregards the problems that may arise when one tries to determine the precise meaning of “object”, “own efforts”, or “productive manner”.

What if an entrepreneur and a farmer compete for the same piece of land? How does one know which of the two will be using the land in (more) productive fashion? What if the farmer harvests the first fruits of his labour already after a few weeks, while the entrepreneur depending on roundabout methods of production and lengthy preliminary work will be able to start production only in two years time and will be making a profit or go bust, as the case may be, in four years time?

Let us assume all pieces of land – indeed all relevant property – have been assigned to their owners via correct homesteading. All remaining legal issues then will have to be settled by reference to the criterion of “absolute self-ownership,” which, however, is undefined, as we have seen elsewhere.

How does one determine whether property established 2 000 years or 200 years or 50 years ago has actually come about in compliance with correct homesteading procedures? What to do, if the procedures of correct homesteading had been violated?

How useful is the principle of homesteading, if claims to property have historically evolved thanks to processes violating or only incompletely honouring the principle of homesteading, while having still attained general acceptance? Hence, it is not clear at all how the criterion of “absolute self-ownership” which is undefinable, and the criterion of “homesteading” which seems to produce more questions than answers, should be capable of establishing a universal ethics. An Addenbdum

Written in June 2013.

German twin post.