Ownership Rights and the Rites of Ownership

Bibliographic Data

ID22934839
AuthorsNeal Milner (Institute for Conflict Research, corresponding author)
Year1993
Volume18
Issue02
Pages227-253
Publication date1993-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLaw & Social Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0897-6546 • E-ISSN: 1747-4469
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1747-4469.1993.tb00654.x
OpenAlexW2036716539
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited2

Using condominium owner and landowner narratives about their property, I consider how people answer the question, What does it mean to own something? These property narratives are framed around three sets of social practices, myths, and beliefs which I call rites of identity, rites of settlement, and rites of struggle—the rites of ownership. According to these narratives, ownership requires that the person possessing the property carry out these rites. Their sense of entitlement—ownership rights—is framed by these rites. Following the rites makes one a deserving property owner. Property rights are seen as protectors against arbitrary, unpredictable changes in status that violate these owners, sense that they are entitled to keep what they had worked so hard for and planned for so long. I conclude with a discussion of the value of property narratives for understanding the link between law and culture.

Aesthetics · Agriculture · Archaeology · Art · Bundle of rights · Business · Common ownership · Economics · Entitlement (fair division) · Epistemology · Human rights · Identity (music) · Land tenure · Law and economics · Literature · Mythology · Narrative · Political science · Property (philosophy) · Property rights · Right to property · Settlement (finance) · Sociology · Value (mathematics) · Finance · History · Land Rights and Reforms · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy

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