Class 1 – 1/12/17

From Nature to Commons

• Johnson v. M’Inotsh, 3-10
• Notes and Questions, 10-18
• Toward a Theory of Property Rights, 40-46

Hello everyone and welcome to Property I.

Today we will cover property rights created through discovery or conquest with the case of Johnson v. M’Intosh.

During class, I will type in real time the lecture notes on this document.

This is Chief Justice John Marshall (very nice sideburns):

This is John Locke (he resembles Mr. Burns, if he had hair). Here is a link to Chapter V of Second Treatise on Government. Chapter V focuses on property. Chapter XVI focuses on “Conquest.”

This is Hugo Grotius (has a Shakespeare thing going for him–he was Dutch):

This is Samuel Pufendorf (nice wig):

Here is a map of the land at issue in Johnson.

This is Harold Demsetz:

This is Ronald Coase. He died in 2013 at the age of 100!