This critical examination questions whether private property can be claimed as one of the rights of mankind. The author contrasts two types of arguments about rights: those based on historical entitlement, and those based on the importance of property to freedom.

Part 1: The Framework: Introduction; What is private property?; Right-based arguments; Special rights and general rights; Part II: The arguments: Arguing for property; Locke's discussion of property; Historical entitlement: some difficulties; General-right-based arguments for private property; The Proudhon Strategy; Hegel's discussion of property; Self-ownership and the opportunity to appropriate; Property for all; Bibliography; Index

`A thoughtful and meticulous book ... consistently intelligent and often highly instructive.' Times Literary Supplement `an exceptionally clear and useful account ... Waldron's book demonstrates where an effort to take "the right to private property" seriously ought to lead.' Times Higher Education Supplement `scholarly book' Robert Oakeshott, Political Quarterly, 61.3 July-Sept 1990 `His extensive discussion of Locke will not disappoint ... immensely rich. Highly recommended for all university and college libraries' Religious Studies Review `lucid and authoritative book ... A book like this is intended to be the beginning, not the end, of thinking about the subject it covers.' Constitutional Commentary `thoughtful, tightly reasoned book ... a very clear and extraordinarily sophisticated analysis of property rights.' Michigan Law Review `we should be grateful for the wealth of intelligent and insightful analyses in this big book' Dialogue `The great merit of Waldron's study is that it brings a high-powered and unforgiving microscope to one argument: that there is a right to private property ... Because the study of the right to property can lead in so many directions, and because Waldron is aware of them, this is a major contribution to contemporary political theory.' Political Studies