Factuality and Legality in Ockham's Theory of Property
Abstract
William of Ockham’s political works arose from his participation in the quarrel of poverty between the Papacy and the Franciscan order that involved the reflection on property. Because of the wholly dialectical nature of these works, and Ockham’s constant references to the doctrinal sources of the discussion, it is difficult to determine to what extent the author is an original theoretician of property, and not a mere reviewer of the discussions in course. Here are analysed the central theoretical terms of the Opus Nonaginta Dierum, his first individual political work –“factual use”, “use of right”, “dominion”–, their utilization in the debate on evangelical poverty with the Pope John XXII, and finally, the theory of natural right to property, as it is presented in the same work and in the later Breviloqium de potestate papae. The conclusion is that one of the main contributions of Ockham is having transferred the central concepts of the civil law of property –“inalienability”, “the power of claim”, “the power of resignment”– to a theory of natural right to property.Downloads
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