What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government

by P.-J. Proudhon

WHAT IS PROPERTY?

AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLE
OF RIGHT AND OF GOVERNMENT

By P. J. Proudhon

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DETAILED CONTENTS

P. J. PROUDHON: HIS LIFE AND HIS WORKS
PREFACE
FIRST MEMOIR
CHAPTER I.
METHOD PURSUED IN THIS WORK.—THE IDEA OF A REVOLUTION

CHAPTER II.
PROPERTY CONSIDERED AS A NATURAL RIGHT.—OCCUPATION AND CIVIL LAW
AS EFFICIENT BASES OF PROPERTY.—DEFINITIONS
% 1. Property as a Natural Right.
% 2. Occupation as the Title to Property.
% 3. Civil Law as the Foundation and Sanction of Property.

CHAPTER III.
LABOR AS THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF THE DOMAIN OF PROPERTY
% 1. The Land cannot be appropriated.
% 2. Universal Consent no Justification of Property.
% 3. Prescription gives no Title to Property.
% 4. Labor.—That Labor has no Inherent Power to appropriate
Natural Wealth.
% 5. That Labor leads to Equality of Property.
% 6. That in Society all Wages are Equal.
% 7. That Inequality of Powers is the Necessary Condition of
Equality of Fortunes.
% 8. That, from the stand-point of Justice, Labor destroys
Property.