more from Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Single Idea 19799

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights]

Full Idea

Each private individual's right to his very own store is always subordinate to the community's right to all, without which there could be neither solidity in the social fabric nor real force in the exercise of sovereignty.

Gist of Idea

Private property must always be subordinate to ownership by the whole community

Source

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], I.9)

Book Reference

Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Basic Political Writings', ed/tr. Cress,Donald A. [Hackett 1987], p.153


A Reaction

This may sound a bit drastic, but every country practices this principle, seen in compulsory purchase orders (e.g. to build a railway line). In liberal democracies you expect good compensation. In communist Roumania you were just moved. Also taxation.