[Zerano]

I have a few qualms w/ what you just said:

The State doesn't create property rights--the proper role of the State is to DEFEND them. Those rights were created by God & existed long before the people themselves created the State in order to defend their God-given rights.

[justinellis329]

I should have been more precise; I was trying to point to this by mentioning the moral rights thing. What I'm saying is that you can have the moral right to owning property from God or your own labor or wherever; what the state does is create those rights as a legal framework that defends whatever rights those are. That is, you can go to a court if the government or someone else tries to take your property, you can get patents, etc.

The reason why I make that distinction goes back to the idea of a natural law; while the reason can certainly discern large moral principles, like having property, it's hard to derive specifics about how to flesh the concept out. For example, it's hard to get from the basic right to have property to, say, delimiting blocks of radio frequencies to property owners. I guess the rights provide the framework, and the state's legal rights fill in the details.

[from occupied ga]

The State doesn't create property rights

Beat me to it.

[traviskicks]

The State doesn't create property rights--the proper role of the State is to DEFEND them. Those rights were created by God & existed long before the people themselves created the State in order to defend their God-given rights.
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You might be interested in this:

http://www.neoperspectives.com/foundingoftheunitedstates.htm

[Mojave]

The State doesn't create property rights--

Homesteads? Placer claims? Constructive notice?