Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
Recent work in property theory treats ownership as an office. Rather than own things directly, this view contends that we occupy an office to which owned things belong. The office-based account of ownership is an elegant account, but it would work a significant change in the architecture of property law. This Article will suggest that legal systems also have reason to avoid the office-holding approach on normative grounds. Notably, the office holding account suggests that ownership is more impersonal than it is usually thought to be. That impersonality, while a strength for some purposes, can be a weakness from the perspective of owners’ well-being. Ownership through offices is desirable in limited contexts, and the common law allows for it. This Article will argue, however, that we should often prefer our ownership of things to be direct and personal.

Gold, Andrew S, Of Architecture and Offices in Property Law (September 28, 2024).