BOUNDARIES OF ORDER Private Property As a Social System BOUNDARIES OF ORDER Private Property As a Social System Butler Shaffer LvMI MISES INSTITUTE Copyright © 2009 Butler Shaffer All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. Published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute 518West Magnolia Avenue Auburn, Alabama 36830 www.mises.org ISBN: 978-1-933550-16-9 To the Remnant Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes fi lled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civ- ilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Histori- ans are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river. — Will Durant Contents Preface ............................................................................xi Chapter 1 Introduction ......................................................1 Chapter 2 The Eroding Structure ....................................33 Chapter 3 Foundations of Order .....................................61 Chapter 4 Boundary: What Can Be Owned ..................89 Chapter 5 Claim: The Will to Own ...............................125 Chapter 6 Control As Ownership .................................161 Chapter 7 Private Property and Social Order .............187 Chapter 8 Property and the Environment ...................215 Chapter 9 Individualism vs. Collectivism ..................243 Chapter 10 Property and the State .................................277 Chapter 11 Conclusion .....................................................301 Epilogue .........................................................................325 Index .........................................................................327