ABSTRACT
Legal protection of property rights creates incentives to exploit resources efficiently. James Madison argued that in addition to the people's right to protections for tangible objects, goods, and assets, individuals have a possessory property interest in their opinions, religious beliefs, safety, and liberty. Lord Edward Coke ideology incorporated the notion of the supremacy of fundamental laws protecting individuals in the rights of life, liberty, and property, as long as those individuals had not violated the laws of the land. The developer of a section of property on the coast argued that the law was constitutionally equivalent to a "taking" of the property, entitling him to compensation for the lost development value of the land. In City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes, 526 US 687 , the California city justified its actions of re-jecting different applications by the developer of oceanfront property on the grounds that it was protecting various forms of wildlife, such as the blue butterfly.
