Protection of Private Property in the Early Law of Nations

Abstract

The article analyses the protection of private property under the law of nations during the 18th and early 19th centuries. It shows how natural law theories of property were influential in shaping a doctrine of private property under the law of nations, relying on a dual conception of private property as both individual and state rights. This mirrored developments in the real world, where a network of treaties granted protection to foreign property and commercial interests. However, in practice the most important exposure of private property to the power of foreign sovereigns was the disruption of shipping and the constant risk of merchant ships being seized by privateers in the service of belligerent powers. The law of nations regulated this practice through the law of prize and neutrality, a main function of which, it is argued here, was to protect individual, foreign property rights.