ABSTRACT
The Victorians, and indeed the generations before them, did not take easily to the concept of the state intruding into what they perceived to be their private affairs, and took an even dimmer view if that interference was made under compulsion and with their property. Such interference not only breached their values of independence and self-reliance, but also their belief in the sanctity of private property. The early Victorians took the traditional and absolute view of property as the highest right it was possible to have in anything, and that that right brought with it the right to exclude everyone else – including the state – from its enjoyment and its disposition, and the enjoyment of total control over it. Any restriction on this control should be only with the owner’s desire or consent. So if an owner wished to tie up his land, to relinquish control in other words, to settle it on his spouse and children for example, or indeed to dispose of it by sale, mortgage or will, he not only should be free to do so, but should be assisted in achieving his desire by the provision of the law. State interference with private property was regarded as permissible only if accompanied by full and fair compensation. 2
