ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes to the relationship between property and nation building has been to redeem the concept of property from the reactionary overtones it inevitably suggests. It focuses on the relationship between property and the common good by endeavoring to show how property can at times be directed to higher, political ends. The chapter examines the importance of Stewart's reliance on state entitlement as the basis of the new property. In overturning the New York steamboat monopoly, John Marshall simply preferred one kind of property over another–the property of those shippers not favored by the monopoly at the expense of those who had enjoyed a privileged position. Marshall was contributing to a widespread tendency among American jurists at all levels of government to interpret property rights in a way that would enhance economic development. The connection between property rights and the public interest has some bearing on the discretionary judgments made by contemporary bureaucrats in regulatory agencies.
