In Search for Sustainable Property Relations

As we move into the twenties of the new millennium there is ample evidence that we are in a climate crisis. Although this is not the first crisis of this century it is certainly more prevailing. In terms of eco-sustainability the world is dealing with an increase in global temperatures and a loss of biodiversity. As most of the land surface of the planet is governed by private property rights the way in which this land is dealt with has a great effect on eco-sustainability. <br>In the past centuries a system has arisen in which exclusivity and extraction are the leading principles in a system that is based on economic growth by accrual of wealth. This system of property law, which Van Erp has called the classical system of property law, plays an instrumental part in this system. The classic model of property is part of an imaginary of a world in which economic growth and welfare maximization are key organizing principles. The set of rules of property law, also referred to as the property nomos, is organized around this larger idea or imaginary of what society should look like. The risk of changing the rules without addressing the notion of nomos and imaginary is incoherency.<br>Incoherency in property law creates issues of legal certainty. Property law deals with durable relationships that sometimes span across multiple generations. Especially property relations relating to land use a set of property rights that are created for a very long duration of time. These rights are part of an intricate system of rules that rely on coherency of a system. Incoherency of the system, for example, through additions of new previously unknown property rights, leads to uncertainty and increased efforts for all users. <br>In terms of the rules of property law themselves, there are three levels at which private law property can be approached. First there is the level of property theory that provides the foundations on the basis of which the system of property law functions. Second, there is the organizational level of the system, in which general principles govern the rules of property law. Third, there are the technical rules of property law that apply to property relations between two private parties. <br><br>This contribution will explore the necessary transition from a classical property nomos towards a property nomos of sustainable relations. In doing so the contribution explores some of the fundamental elements a sustainable property law must contain and where these come from.