Private Property and the Common Good
Eric T. Freyfogle

Taken from Front Flap:
"Written by award-winning author and legal expert Eric Freyfogle, The Land We Share is an incisive discussion of a core feature of American life-private ownership of land, water, and other elements of nature. What rights do private owners really possess, and what responsibilities might society reasonably impose on them? These questions have become increasingly urgent, given the challenges of urban sprawl, decayed cities, and environmental decline.

"Freyfogle draws upon law, history, and modern debates about land use to take us behind the scenes of the seemingly familiar but surprisingly little-known institution of private property. Far from being an unchanging individual right, he argues, property ownership is an evolving legal arrangement, tied to shifting beliefs about community interest. Using the writings of classic property theorists and landmark legal cases - on everything from forest use and beaver dams to hog-farm runoff and subdivision zoning - Freyfogle weaves together the fascinating story of how interpretations of property rights and responsibilities have changed, along with society itself, over the course of American history."

Contents:

• Introduction
• The Many Elements of Owning Land
• Ownership in the New Nation
• Industrialism and the Right to Use
• Justifying the Landowner's Power
• The Lure of Privatization
• The Market Train
• Private Property for an Ecological Age
• The Public's Interest in Private Land
• Fair Governance
• Notes
• Bibliography