Changes in the Right to Property from the Aspect of Intellectual History

Abstract

From antiquity to the Middle Ages, the right to property was a legal institution tied to status, political roles, and hierarchical relationships, rather than an abstract individual right. Its function was inextricably linked to the order of community, power, and inheritance. During the era of absolutism, thinking regarding property reached a turning point. Modern natural law perspectives emerged (Bodin, Grotius, Locke), while Hobbes emphasized its state-originated nature in a legal context. The 18^th and 19^th centuries were characterized by a search for balance between the constitutional protection of private property and restrictions in the public interest, where liberalism and codification acknowledged the social obligations of ownership. In the 20^th century, property became an ideological issue: liberalism viewed it as a fundamental right, socialism and communism as an institution to be strictly limited or abolished, and fascist and Nazi ideologies as a specific political tool. 21st-century postmodern approaches often seek to transform property into a functional, access-based institution aligned with global goals, which leads to the relativization of individual autonomy and legal certainty.