ABSTRACT
Over the past three centuries, one of the primary modes of justifying exclusive rights over external objects has been John Locke's labour theory of property rights-acquisition. Locke's justification of individual property rights has recently been revisited in some prominent theories of the just distribution of territorial rights between states. This chapter offers a desert-based reading of Locke's individualistic labour theory of property rights-acquisition: Locke appeals to desert as a justification for particular property rights. There are several ways of objecting to Locke's labour theory when it is cast in such desert-terms. The first thing we can note is the emphasis Nine places on Locke's notorious claim about labour being responsible for virtually all of the improved land's use-value. The justification of territorial rights for the eligible agent would still have to be done by the Lockean Desert-principle. The Partial-Responsibility Problem has shown that Nine's collectives cannot claim exclusive particular territorial rights based on Lockean Desert.
