Abstract
At the dawn of the eastward enlargement of the European Union, once again it becomes obvious that ‘ownership is a historical, not a logical category’.1 The Western model of the welfare state is in a severe crisis2 and can no longer be maintained in its present form. At the same time, the Central and East European countries are trying various ways to integrate ]private ownership into the legal framework of a new post-socialist welfare state,3 or are at least trying to lighten the social burden of transition to a market economy.4 In this context, the role of property goes beyond the mere functional control of men over legal objects and nature; it assumes another dimension of property rights, that of social integration as an element of social stability, democracy, and economic justice.5
There is nothingwhich so generally strikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property.
William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1793
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Notes
Although embodied in the constitutions of several post-socialist states (for example, Poland, Croatia and Russia), the principle of the welfare state has been developed only partly or not at all; for the role and renaissance of private property in the post-socialist societies of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, see H. Roggemann (1999b) ‘Erster Teil: Einführung’, in H. Roggemann (ed.) Die Verfassungen Mittel-und Osteuropas (Berlin: Berlin Verlag Arno Spitz GmbH), p. 98.
See W. Gärtner (1996), Die Neugestaltung der Wirtschaftsverfassungen in Ostmitteleuropa (Berlin: Berlin Verlag Arno Spitz GmbH).
Compare a recent study on the history of dogmatics and ideas on ownership and its historical relativity by D. Hecker (1990) Eigentum als Sachherrschaft — Zur Genese und Kritik eines besonderen Herrschaftsanspruchs (Paderborn and Munich: Schöningh), pp. 18
For further remarks see H. Roggemann (ed.) (1996) Eigentum in Osteuropa (Berlin: Berlin Verlag Arno Spitz GmbH).
L. O. Kelso and M. J. Adler (1958) The Capitalist Manifesto (New York: Random House), p. 15
‘In the main, it will be found that a power over a man’s support is a power over his will’, Alexander Hamilton (1788) The Federalist Papers, No. 73 in A. Hamilton et al. The Federalist II (New York: J. and A. McLean).
In this context see P. Badura (1994) ‘Eigentum’, in E. Benda, W. Maihofer and H.-J. Vogel (eds) Handbuch des Verfassungsrechts, 2nd edn (Berlin et al.: de Gruyter), 10, p. 386
See B. Schwartz (1965) A Commentary on the Constitution ofthe United States, Part II (New York and London: Macmillan), p. 229.
H. Rittstieg (1976) Eigentum als Verfassungsproblem — Zu Geschichte und Gegenwart des bürgerlichen Verfassungsstaates, 2nd edn (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft), p. 24.
A. A. Berle, Jr. (1959) Toward the Paraproprietal Society (New York: The Twentieth Century Fund), p. 22.
See B. Beutler, R. Bieber and J. Pipkorn (1993) Die Europäische Union, Rechtsordnung und Politik, 4th edn (Baden-Baden: Nomos), p. 63.
See summary by M. Schweitzer and W. Hummer (1993) Europarecht, 4th edn (Neuwied and Berlin: Metzner), p. 200.
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© 2009 Herwig Roggemann and Jens Lowitzsch
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Roggemann, H., Lowitzsch, J. (2009). The Challenge: Functional Changes in Property Rights in Europe. In: Financial Participation of Employees in the EU-27. Studies in Economic Transition. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230274167_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230274167_2
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