What does it mean to “own” something when there is no government to back you up? Is property real, or just a story we agree to tell each other in the absence of state power? Let’s take a trip down to the “deeds office”—if there even is one.
Property City YouTube
Inspired by Paradise City by Guns N’ Roses
Lyrics by Novix
James AI:
It’s a common belief that private property depends on government, but history shows that property pre-dates states and can exist without them. In stateless societies, property claims arise through first use, possession, or mutual agreement. Think of pioneers marking their land, or digital communities tracking ownership with public ledgers. Voluntary associations—neighborhood watches, customary courts, mutual aid societies—can and have maintained records, settled disputes, and enforced property rights.
Ownership, then, is a matter of recognition. In a functioning anarchy, communities agree on rules—sometimes written, often oral—about what counts as “yours” or “mine.” Blockchain and distributed ledgers are modern examples: proof of property with no central government. Custom, contract, and reciprocity can be enough to legitimize claims, foster investment, and allow people to build and exchange. Private property, as such, is not just serviceable; it’s natural to human association.
Take me down to the property city
Where the lots are straight and the deeds ain’t gritty
Oh, won’t you please sign mine?Paint the line, drive the stake,
Everybody’s got a slice to bake
Neighbors nod and shake their hands—
No government brands, just working the land!
Contra AI:
But property gets messy fast. Even in stable societies, property disputes are the norm—boundaries blur, records get lost, squatting happens, and force wins out if there’s no universally accepted referee. Hernando de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital makes a powerful point: the “dead capital” of informal property cannot be easily bought, sold, or borrowed against because there’s no authoritative, scalable way to establish and defend ownership. Customary systems might work for a village, but once you scale up, only something like a deeds office (backed by credible force) keeps property rights from devolving into chaos.
Enforcement is the issue. Voluntary agreements may suffice for friends or small tribes, but as strangers and outsiders come in, disputes multiply. Without centralized enforcement, property becomes a matter of might, or at best, an unstable patchwork. Capital markets, mortgages, and investment all depend on reliable, universal rules—the kind only a government can supply.
Take me down to the deeds office,
Where the title’s king and the law is flawless,
Oh, won’t you stamp my claim?Draw the maps and number the lots,
Lawyers dance connecting the dots,
Without a hand to guard the file,
The records fade, the fraudsters smile!
James AI:
Sure, scale brings challenges. But don’t underestimate the power of decentralized systems—everything from private arbitration agencies to distributed digital records. Modern technologies can facilitate trust and recording. In theory, if enough people buy in to an anarchic system and respect its processes, you don’t need a monopoly on violence to ensure property rights—just credible, enforceable norms.
Besides, governments themselves are not immune to corruption, land grabs, or loss of records. State-sanctioned property isn’t always more secure, only more official. The heart of property is community recognition and practical enforcement, which can take many forms.
Out in the yard with the stakes and the wire,
If you break the code, there’s a friendly pariah,
But you live and let own, just don’t trespass mine!Fence line’s low, the orchard’s tall,
Got my claim from last year’s fall,
No papers stamped, just honest repute—
But will my kids inherit the loot?
Contra AI:
Yet, as history shows, competing systems usually end with the most powerful imposing their will, and everyone else scrambling. Without state power, there’s nothing to stop well-armed actors from rewriting the rules, or powerful interests from colluding to dispossess the weak. The promise of decentralized property is real, but the risks are equally real—and for most, unreliable property is little better than none at all.
In the dead of night, the boundary’s crossed,
The witness gone and the record lost,
Call a council, raise a hand—
Who remembers how this land was planned?
Synthesis:
Private property can and does exist without a state, but scaling those arrangements reliably and fairly across millions of strangers is a deep challenge. Voluntary and decentralized mechanisms can handle much, but at some scale, the problem of enforcement and recognition seems to reintroduce something like government, or at least a monopoly of enforcement. The real question: Can new technologies, or new social arrangements, make property genuinely stateless—or is the state the inevitable guardian of ownership?
Recommendations
- The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Hernando de Soto. Essential reading on how property systems underpin modern economies.
- Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick. Philosophical exploration of state, rights, and property.
- The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey by Michael Huemer. A modern take on voluntary arrangements and the limits of government.
- Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society by Eric A. Posner & E. Glen Weyl. Explores alternative property arrangements and economic systems.
James Prompt
- TITLE: Private Property and Anarchy
- LEAD: Without government, is ownership meaningful?
- SONG: Property City, inspired by Paradise City. It is about straight line lots and take me down to the deeds office.
- PRO: Private property is perfectly serviceable without a government. People can organize what they mean by property and have voluntary associations that record and legitimize it.
- CONTRA: Property is messy. It is about excluding people and defining boundaries is hard. Without a single system that establishes the rules and enforces it, capitalization of assets does not scale. This is made quite clear in Mystery of Capital.
- RECOMMEND: Anarchy, property