William Ogilvie of Pittensear

William Ogilvie of Pittensear FRSE FSA (Scot) (1736–1819), known as the Rebel Professor[1] and described by his biographer as the "Euclid of Land law Reform",[2] was a Scottish classicist, numismatist and author of an influential historic land reform treatise.[3] Published in London in 1781, An Essay on the Right of Property in Land[4] was issued anonymously, necessarily it seems in a revolutionary age.

As with John Locke,[5] John Stuart Mill,[6] Thomas Paine,[7] Adam Smith[8] and others—Ogilvie is seen as a leading proto-Georgist thinker. His masterwork was republished in 1838,[9] then in 1891 (reprinted 1970) as the heart and subject of a much larger new work titled Birthright in Land,[10][11][12] and in more recent years has been republished twice in modern, further expanded editions, using that same title.[13][14] Ogilvie is cited as an influence by reformers internationally.[15]

The principal authority and main published source of information[16] on William Ogilvie and his life is his 19th-century biographer DC MacDonald, who says:

The facts known about Ogilvie's life are exceedingly scanty, and would of themselves be of little importance; but when considered along with the conception we form of the man as displayed on every page of his book, the smallest scrap of authentic information will in these days be of some interest, not only to "men of enlarged and inquisitive minds", but also to readers in general. It is in the book, however, and in the book alone, that we meet face to face with the author. Ogilvie instilled his soul into it, and he left us evidence that it was the chief aim of his life. We, therefore, should as soon think of separating the man Isaiah from the Book of Isaiah, as we should of separating the man Ogilvie from the book of Ogilvie.[17]

  1. ^ Ogilvie, William; Peter Gibb, DC MacDonald, George Morton and Roger Sandilands (1997) [Ogilvie's Essay first published, in its original form, in 1781 (reprint 1782); Preface, Biographical Notes and the 'Chronicle of Strathconon' by DC MacDonald first published, in their original forms, in 1891]. Peter Gibb (ed.). William Ogilvie's Birthright in Land. with inspiration from Shirley-Anne Hardy. London: Othila Press (in association with Land Reform Scotland). ISBN 1-901647-13-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (Forenote).
  2. ^ MacDonald, DC (1997). Ogilvie. Palala.
  3. ^ Ritchie, Lionel Alexander (September 2004). "Ogilvie, William (1736–1819)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20589. Retrieved 16 August 2009. Ogilvie's Essay became a point of reference for subsequent advocates of land reform. His unquestioned benevolence and personal sincerity meant that his radicalism provoked a less hostile reaction than might otherwise have been the case. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ Ogilvie, William (published anonymously) (1781). An Essay on the Right of Property in Land, &c. [reproduced in Beer, M, The Pioneers of Land Reform, 1920, see below, p. 19-173]. London.: J Walter, Charing Cross.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. ^ Are you a real libertarian, or a royal libertarian "Furthermore, Locke based his scenario on pre-monetary societies, where a landholder would find that "it was useless, as well as dishonest, to carve himself too much, or take more than he needed." With the introduction of money, Locke noted, all land quickly became appropriated. Why? Because with money, those who can take more land than they have personal use for suddenly have reason to do so, as between them they will have taken all the land, and others will have to pay rent to them. So, with the introduction of money, the Lockean rationale for landed property falls apart, even according to Locke. And while Locke did not propose a remedy specifically for to this problem, he repeatedly stated that all taxes should be on real estate."
  6. ^ Mill, John Stuart. "Book 5 Chapter 2". Principles of Political Economy. ISBN 1-112-27576-2. "The ordinary progress of a society which increases in wealth, is at all times tending to augment the incomes of landlords; to give them both a greater amount and a greater proportion of the wealth of the community, independently of any trouble or outlay incurred by themselves. They grow richer, as it were in their sleep, without working, risking, or economizing. What claim have they, on the general principle of social justice, to this accession of riches? In what would they have been wronged if society had, from the beginning, reserved the right of taxing the spontaneous increase of rent, to the highest amount required by financial exigencies?"
  7. ^ 'Agrarian Justice', 1797, paragraph 12: "Every proprietor, therefore, of cultivated lands, owes to the community a ground-rent (for I know of no better term to express the idea) for the land which he holds; and it is from this ground-rent that the fund proposed in this plan is to issue."
  8. ^ Smith, Adam (1993). "Book V, Article I, 'Taxes upon the Rent of Houses'". The Wealth of Nations. ISBN 0-8476-7797-4.
  9. ^ Beer, M (2001) [link is to first edition, London: G Bell and Sons, 1920]. The Pioneers of Land Reform: Thomas Spence, William Ogilvie, Thomas Paine. Honolulu, Hawaii: University Press of the Pacific. p. ix. ISBN 978-0-89875-700-2.
  10. ^ Ogilvie, William (1891) [Ogilvie's Essay first published, in its original form, in 1781]. DC MacDonald (ed.). Birthright in Land. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.
  11. ^ Ogilvie, William (1970) [1891]. DC MacDonald (ed.). Birthright in Land. London: AM Kelley. p. 436. ISBN 978-0-678-00597-2.
  12. ^ Ogilvie, William (2010) [1970 (1891)]. DC MacDonald (ed.). Birthright in Land (online resource). Cornell University Library.
  13. ^ Ogilvie 1997.
  14. ^ Hardy, Shirley-Anne (1999). 'Birthright in Land' by William Ogilvie—and the State of Scotland Today. Illustrated by Harold Lane. Pitlochry: Peregrine Press. p. 629. ISBN 978-0-9535426-0-4.
  15. ^ "William Ogilvie: An Essay on the Right of Property in Land".
  16. ^ see also Ritchie in ODNB, 2004 (whose principal source is also DC MacDonald).
  17. ^ DC MacDonald's Biographical Notes, in Ogilvie 1997.