Property in Contemporary Capitalism

Paddy Ireland is Professor of Law at the University of Bristol.

"In this significant new book, which contains a powerful rebuttal of the ‘truth’ of law and economics, Ireland turns his gaze toward what that other great heretical Marxist, E P Thompson, called ‘logics of process’, understanding property relations in terms of historically specific economic and social dynamics." Emilios Christodoulidis, University of Glasgow

• 1 Introduction2 From Thing-Ownership to Bundle of Rights to Social RelationProperty as thing-ownership: the Blackstonian conception'Heroic reification': creating objects of propertyThe conceptual limitations of ‘property’ and ‘ownership’The rise of property as thing-ownershipFrom bundle of rights to social relationVanishing into thin air: property as a ‘conceptual mirage’3 The Dual Nature of PropertyThe revolution in property: institutionalising modern propertyPrivate property, individual autonomy and identityPersonal possessions versus productive resourcesCapital, capitalist and capitalismProperty-as-capitalThe reconceptualisation of the joint stock company share4 Profiting from the Efforts of OthersCapital and investmentProfiting from the ownership of productive resourcesThe rise of ‘rentierism’ The new enclosuresProfiting from debtThe distribution of wealth and capitalThe gender, racial and inter-generational dimensions of wealth inequalityOwnership of public debtRising private wealth, declining public wealthSpeculating on the future5 Defending the Property Status Quo: Analytical JurisprudenceThe new essentialism: reviving property as thing-ownershipThe ubiquity of property institutionsThe dangers of abstractionDominium in Roman lawThe idea of property in law6 Defending the Property Status Quo: Law and EconomicsThe modern corporation and the threat to shareholder rightsSocial democracy and the socialised corporationDefending the rentier: the market for corporate controlContractual theories of the corporation: reprivatising the public companyThe fictional corporation rematerialisesThe rise of financialised corporate governanceInformation cost theories of propertyFacilitating the market: functionalism and efficiency Property rights as ‘special’7 Safeguarding Property-as-CapitalUniversalising capitalismHistoricising property: private property and capitalismCreating property-as-capitalPrioritising the investor interestThe new aristocracy of financeContaining democracy: the ‘new constitutionalism’Derisking new propertyNeoliberal ideology versus neoliberal practice8 Property and Social TransformationProperty as a historical categoryThing-ownership, bundles of rights or social relation?The social relational dimensions of propertyBringing capitalism back inCapitalism’s logic of process The moral logic of capitalismChanging the logic: gradual transformative change?ReferencesIndex