ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Hugo Grotius's theory of private property. Even though Grotius is one of the most important philosophers in the tradition of natural law, he does not conceive of a property right in terms of a natural right, but rather in terms of a manmade institution. In his argument for a transition from use right to property right, Grotius presents the basic elements of a theory of human institutions. Social institutions such as laws, boundaries, commerce, and the state were created for the protection of the institution of private property. And private property, in its turn, ultimately presupposes the existence of a noninstitutional entity, namely, the natural right every individual has to avail herself of what has no owner. In the modern tradition of the social contract, the figure of the contract is usually seen as an event that should put an end to the state of nature.
