ABSTRACT
The relationship between human exceptionalism and property, and the development of the theory of predatory drift in human property relations in the work, emphasise presumed species uniqueness about property. The confrontation between ethological substantiality and authenticity on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the popular constructions of animals through property relations as predators, strays, wild, and so on, is striking. Shifting the perspective on property helps to explore and confound the dominant narratives of human exceptionalism and the recalcitrance with respect to any exploration of anthropomorphism, peeling back the thin veneer of anthropodenial. Rediscovering Gabriel Tarde has provided an opportunity to examine shared themes through the science and jurisprudence of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries towards understanding the impact of scientific developments on property and law. The predatory turn in property emerges in the age of dominion, the Machine Age, an adversarial, warring shift in property relations, as it were.
