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A Liberal Theory of Property by Hanoch Dagan (review)

Hanoch Dagan’s A Liberal Theory of Property offers, as its title suggests, a strong defence of both the institution of property and classic liberalism’s focus on the individual. With law and economics threatening to define property solely in terms of utilitarian calculus, Dagan lays out a vision of property that resists such instrumental reductionism. A liberal system of property rights, Dagan argues, allows for individual autonomy and is valuable independent of the connection between property and larger economic growth. Moreover, by centring the individual, rather than a collective, understanding of the good, A Liberal Theory rejects the communitarian critique which would declare the centring of individual autonomy to be a failed experiment. But the liberal subject at the heart of Dagan’s vision is not the rugged individual standing above and separate from other people but, instead, the individual immersed in a web of relations with fellow autonomous individuals. According to Dagan, autonomy or self-authorship (used interchangeably in the book) is the fundamental principle that grounds just systems of property rights, but reciprocal obligations tied to the shared humanity of other owners and non-owners place severe constraints on the powers associated with property ownership. Dagan’s rigorous analysis shows that constrained autonomy provides a way for the institution of property to reconcile individual claims with competing social demands. Ultimately, A Liberal Theory makes a strong case for constrained autonomy as superior to alternatives that might be offered by the illiberal left – communitarianism – or the cold-hearted right – exclusion and domination. Although Dagan’s theory is grounded in autonomy, what makes the book compelling is that it shows that limitations on autonomy are as important as autonomy itself. Dagan’s version of property law as fundamentally about both power and mutual obligations avoids ideological incoherence, setting forth a vision that reaffirms liberalism while also challenging advanced democracies to do better.