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Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities.[1] Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or cooperative property, which is owned by one or more non-governmental entities.[2] John Locke described private property as a Natural Law principle arguing that when a person mixes their labor with nature, the labor enters the object conferring individual ownership.[3]
Private property is foundational to capitalism, an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.[4] As a legal concept, private property is defined and enforced by a country's political system.[5]
- ^ McConnell, Campbell; Brue, Stanley; Flynn, Sean (2009). Economics. Boston: Twayne Publishers. p. G-22. ISBN 978-0073375694.
- ^ Gregory and Stuart, Paul and Robert (2013). The Global Economy and its Economic Systems. South-Western College Pub. p. 30. ISBN 978-1285055350.
There are three broad forms of property ownership – private, public, and collective (cooperative).
- ^ Locke, John. "The Project Gutenberg eBook of Second Treatise Of Government, by John Locke". www.gutenberg.org. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
- ^ Zimbalist, Andrew; Sherman, Howard J.; Brown, Stuart (October 1988). Comparing Economic Systems: A Political-Economic Approach. Harcourt College Pub. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-15-512403-5.
Pure capitalism is defined as a system wherein all of the means of production (physical capital) are privately owned and run by the capitalist class for a profit, while most other people are workers who work for a salary or wage (and who do not own the capital or the product).
- ^ Bertrand Badie; Dirk Berg-Schlosser; Leonardo Morlino (2011). International Encyclopedia of Political Science. Sage Publications. p. 2132. ISBN 978-1412959636.
Private property cannot exist without a political system that defines its existence, its use, and the conditions of its exchange. That is, private property is defined and exists only because of politics.