John Locke
The philosopher (1632–1704) whose labor theory of property — and its famous proviso that appropriation leave 'enough, and as good' for others — frames the moral debate over land ownership that Georgism inherits: property in what you make, conditional claims on what nobody made.
Overview
John Locke (1632–1704) supplied the property theory the land debate still runs on: ownership originates in mixing one's labor with unowned nature — but subject to the Lockean proviso that appropriation leave "enough, and as good, left in common for others" (Second Treatise, Ch. V).[1] Georgists read the proviso as conceding their case: in a settled country no land appropriation leaves "enough and as good," so exclusive land ownership requires compensating the excluded — which is what land value taxation does (land as commons; the moral argument). Libertarian critics read Locke the other way, as grounding absolute property; the geolibertarian position is precisely the attempt to honor both halves — full property in labor's products, conditional tenure in land. Locke is also an ATCOR ancestor: Harrison's Ricardo's Law cites Locke (1691) for the observation that taxes ultimately settle on land.[2]
See Also
- Land as Commons · Geolibertarianism
- Narrative: The Community Creates Land Value
- ATCOR — the fiscal descendant of Locke's 1691 observation
Sources
- John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689), Ch. V "Of Property" — used for the labor theory and the proviso (A-claims; quote ≤50 words). Full text
- Fred Harrison, Ricardo's Law (2006), p. 446 (citing Locke 1691, Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest) — used for the taxes-settle-on-land lineage (A-claim with locator; Heavy scan). Book page