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Don't be so quick to throw out
the idea that labor and occupation creates a
strong right to natural resources such as land
and the product produced from those resources.
Assume for a moment that we
are talking about a small group of people that
existed five thousand years ago. Assume that
they have a collective form of land ownership
if you like. Let's say that this group of
people occupied some land and grew corn. What
would you say if another group came at harvest
time and took the corn? I think you would
consider that seizure unjust. But doesn't that
imply that labor and occupation created a
right to the product of the land and the right
to exclude others from consuming that
product?
If you agree that the first
group had a right to consume the corn they
grew and exclude others from it, and you
reject the theory of initial acquisition based
on labor and occupation, then you need to come
up with another theory.
Do you have anything else to
offer?
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