ABSTRACT
A Theory of Justice had, from the beginning, and continues to maintain, a similarly strong appeal to those Americans who see themselves as liberals and to those Europeans who see themselves as social democrats. The first and what ought to have been the most devastating of objections to this book is that Rawls makes no attempt to justify his assumption that what he presents as social justice is indeed a kind of justice. The crucial Lockean conception of property is more comprehensive than the common contemporary notion. It was the concern there as a likelihood of an extremely limited form of government led to the introduction of the first five Amendments to the Constitution, all restricting the powers of Congress, and the last of them ending "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation".
