Constitutional Protection of Private Property
- by George SweeneyThe moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
- John Adams
The Founding Fathers understood the vital importance of private property and its connection to liberty. Property is the resource from which we can clothe, shelter and feed ourselves and our families. A people denied the right to own property are under the control of those who control those resources. (see The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
In order to sustain liberty there had to be the general right to private property and this was enacted into the Supreme Law of America, The Constitution. Let's look at what is in The Constitution that protects private property.
In Article I, Section 8- "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writing and Discoveries;..." This protects inventions and intellectual property such as a novel.
Article I, Sections 9, and 10, the authority to pass Bills of Attainder or ex post facto Law was denied to the federal and state governments respectively. This respectively protected the rights of inheritance and allowed a property owner the chance to plan ahead knowing that the state could not retroactively declare his or her actions illegal.
Amendment IV protects from "unreasonable searches and seizures" of a person's person, house, papers, or effects.
Amendment V limits government from depriving a person of their property without due process of law, i.e. trial. Then Amendment XIV extended the right of due process to all of the states.