The "first possession" theory of property holds that ownership of something is justified simply by someone seizing it before someone else does.
["Property". Graham Oppy. ''The shorter Routledge encyclopedia of philosophy''. Editor Edward Craig. Routledge, 2005, p. 858] This contrasts with the
labor theory of property
The labor theory of property (also called the labor theory of appropriation, labor theory of ownership, labor theory of entitlement, or principle of first appropriation) is a theory of natural law that holds that property originally comes about b ...
where something may become property only by applying productive labor to it, i.e. by making something out of the materials of nature.
See also
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Labor theory of property
The labor theory of property (also called the labor theory of appropriation, labor theory of ownership, labor theory of entitlement, or principle of first appropriation) is a theory of natural law that holds that property originally comes about b ...
*
Utilitarian theory of property
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Terra nullius
''Terra nullius'' (, plural ''terrae nullius'') is a Latin expression meaning " nobody's land".
It was a principle sometimes used in international law to justify claims that territory may be acquired by a state's occupation of it.
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References
Theories of law
Property
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