Land, by its very nature, is common property — and our laws and traditions already go far toward recognizing it as such. This is a fact that has been widely recognized by a surprising number of great thinkers of many cultures.

Henry George proposed that the rent of land should be paid to the community. This payment would satisfy the equal rights of all other members of the community -- without disturbing individual title to land, fixity of tenure and undisturbed possession. This method of making land “common property” may also be called “conditional private property in land” (payment of rent to the community) as opposed to “absolute private property in land” (private collection of rent).

Equity (vs.?) Efficiency The title to this section alludes to the two major criteria by which economists judge economic policies. Efficiency is simply the optimal use of available resources -- the choice, among alternative uses of those resources, that results in the greatest overall satisfaction of desires.* But, of course, an efficient economic outcome is not necessarily equitable -- some people's desires might be getting satisfied a whole lot more/better than others'. Equity, then, is generally seen as the balancing criterion. Are some people feasting while others are starving?         In general, the values of equity and efficiency are seen as being at odds. Most economists see things that promote efficiency, such as private property, limited government and incentive-oriented policies, as necessarily entailing a tradeoff with achieving the highest levels of equity. (For more on this, see "How Do We Divide the Fruits of Labor.")         Henry George's economic theory is notable in its refusal to accept this fundamental tradeoff. George contends that "justice is the highest and truest expediency." He claims to have articulated a policy solution that reconciles equity with efficiency -- or, in other words, achieves full employment without sacrificing prosperity. *One popular conception of this is the notion of "Pareto Efficiency," after the Italian econmist Vilfredo Pareto, a contemporary of Henry George. A Pareto-efficient state is one in which no one can be made better off without making someone else worse off.

The concept of “conditional private property in land” is well-known to anyone familiar with modern laws concerning real estate. In legal terms, "selling a piece of land" is a non sequitur. What is transacted is a "bundle of rights" that attaches to a particular site. These rights could include surface rights, subsurface mineral rights, aquifer use rights, air-space rights, etc. When Henry George thundered "We must make land common property!" his fervor and bluntness unnerved some people -- but he meant it. George insisted that we allocate the bundle of rights according to the moral basis of ownership. Society must grant secure land tenure, refuse to confiscate the products of labor, and "not sell the land for ever" -- by collecting, for society, the socially-created rental value of land.

The principle of eminent domain asserts the superior claim of society to land, as in the original Constitution of New York State: “The people of the State, in their right of sovereignty, possess the original and ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the State.” English and American law generally recognize absolute ownership of goods, but not of land. The law deals with the land “owner” as a land holder; land is held under the sovereignty of the people and is subject to their conditions.

Some hold that a distinction should be drawn between Common property — that which all have an equal right to use and enjoy -- and Government property -- that which belongs to the state and is subject to the direction of the government. If we believe, however, as Henry George did, that the purpose of government is to secure equal rights of all people, then there can be no meaningful distinction between common and government property. The government’s role is to administer the common property of the people -- who may decide, through the political process, to hold certain areas off the market for public use.

The only non-governmental common property is the unclaimed frontier. No individual, corporation or government can legitimately claim sovereign control over land except in its just role of securing the equal rights of all people.