In defence of private property

Private property is a natural right given by God.

The ownership of private property is a natural right.

It is the right of man to own private property. Such is the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as the popes of Our Holy Mother, the Church. In particular, Pope Leo XIII affirmed it in his encyclical, Rerum Novarum. I will write a brief defence of this right of man, summarising all of the arguments given by Holy Mother Church. In other words, I do not write my own opinion, but that of the Church, for, to paraphrase Isaias XXXV, 8: Dominus dedit nobis Ecclesiam suam, ut non erremus per eam.

Let us begin first with the defence of the aforesaid right by the Angelic Doctor. St. Thomas affirms teaches that there are two things competent to man with regard to exterior things: (1) to procure and dispense them, and (2) to use them. Let us begin with (1).

There are three reasons for which man has the right to own private property which stem from the fact that it belongs to man to procure and dispense exterior goods:

1. One is more likely to be more diligent in procuring something for himself than something that is common to many or to all, since people would tend to neglect and shirk communal work, and leave it to others.

2. Human affairs are conducted in a more orderly fashion if each man is charged with taking care of some particular thing himself. If everyone had to look after any one thing indeterminately, there would be mass confusion.

3. Quarrels frequently arise when there is no division of the things possessed, and man is ensured a more peaceful state if each one is contented with his own.

Regarding the use of exterior goods, the right of private property is natural not in order that man may use them for himself, but that he may use them in order to help others: Charge the rich of this world … to give easily, to communicate to others (I Timothy VI, 17-18).

St. Basil, who excoriated the rich precisely for their poor use of the goods entrusted to them, encouraged the good use of exterior goods in order to acquire merit, saying: Why are you rich while another is poor, unless it be that you may have the merit of a good stewardship, and he the reward of patience? (Hom. in Luc. XII, 18)

Moving on to the teachings of Pope Leo XIII, the Holy Father asserts that the right to own private property distinguishes us from brute animals. Man is endowed with reason, and does not possess things merely for temporary or momentary use, as other creatures do, but he has them and holds them in stable and permanent possession.

The Holy Father continues in his explanation of this natural right, saying that, when man ‘turns the activity of his mind and the strength of his body toward procuring the fruits of nature, by such act he makes his own that portion of nature's field which he cultivates’, and it is just that he should possess that portion as his own. His Holiness questions rhetorically: ‘is it just that the fruit of a man's own sweat and labour should be possessed and enjoyed by any one else?’

Pope Leo XIII adds that private ownership is sanctioned by the authority of divine law, that is, by God Himself: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his (Exodus XX, 17). For indeed, if it is a sin to covet that which belongs to another, it follows that it is indeed proper for something to belong to another.

The Holy Father also adds that the right to own private property belongs to a man in a special way to the man as head of a family. It is a ‘sacred law of nature’ that a father should provide food and necessites to his children, and there is no other way a father can effect this ‘except by ownership of productive property, which he can transmit to children by inheritance’.

Pope Leo XIII concludes the relevant portion of Rerum Novarum saying:

Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.

I will soon write more summaries of different aspects of Rerum Novarum, and also of Pope Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno, which treats of many similar topics.