ABSTRACT
The role of property rights in land as a social institution encountered in most cultures and social systems in the modern era, and in many in the pre-modern era, has been well documented. This chapter focuses on the number of cases where private property rights are something of a novelty, though still regarded as important, and where a new set of 'haves' is established amongst a larger set of 'have nots'. There seems to be general agreement on at least some points among all writers on the broad topic of private property rights, embracing both real and personal property. The aphorism 'possession is nine tenths of the law' is in reality no more than a statement of normal human behaviour: it is normal to assume that there is a 90 per cent chance that occupation means rightful ownership and therefore to be hesitant about challenging such occupation.
