our thought for today, is "what exactly are property rights?"

our thought for today, is “what exactly are property rights? where do they come from? what are their limits?”
its prompted by a passage I discovered in howard zinn’s “a people’s history of the united states” where he’s talking about let’s say the rise and fall of the IWW. if you don’t know this story already, please stop reading right now, and find out. its an education, let me tell you. its the kind of thing I’m talking about when I say that you can’t even begin to have a conversation with folks about the nature of our nation, what really happened, not the fairy tales they tell you in high school history.
in this passage, a fellow is incarcerated, given bread and water for three months, and finally sentenced to life in prison, basically for making a speech.
yes, this is America, ca. 1912.
in his speech the fellow was alleged to have said “to hell with the courts, I have seen their justice.”
that was basically his indictment. he was charged with inciting to riot, and imprisoned.
in his defense, he denied the allegation, saying he hadn’t said that in his original speech, but after three months in jail, he affirms the thought. “to hell with you,” he says to the judge, “I have seen your justice.”
not the most able defense, I think, but what do you want from an anarchist?
he goes on to say (more or less), “you have invented this right, this property right, which supercedes all other rights, the right to free speech, the right to assemble, the right to the pursuit of happiness. because the greedy, wealthy are not satisfied with their wealth, their rapacious appetite will not be satisfied until they own everything, they control everyone. this is why we fight their wars, this is why we rot in their prisons, this is why we slave in their mines and their fields.”
so this brought to mind the question, “are property rights even mentioned in the constitution?” I don’t think so. that’s interesting, because our anarchist friend does have a point. on the other hand the specific enumeration of rights in the constitution is not intended to exclude other rights not mentioned. but that’s sufficiently vague as to be subject to very wide interpretation.
property rights are a fundamental aspect of what’s called english common law, in turn derived from roman law. so they may be assumed, in some sense, without need for enumeration. but in this era, where let’s say there’s conflict between the good of the people and the property rights of a few, the precise nature and bounds of these rights are in need of examination.