Roman Law and John Locke’s Theory of Property

Although John Locke was brought up in the common law tradition, he formulated his theory of property based on the conceptual framework of Roman law and its catalogue of legal problems. Locke was interested in the pre-political origins of property in natural law. His position, although coinciding with some intuitions of Roman jurists, is not confirmed by the probable genesis of Roman property which stems from the political community. The most characteristic feature of John Locke’s doctrine on property is the recognition of work as a source of property. Roman was much more closely related to possession than to work. John Locke’s theory of acquisition of ownership is a characteristic example of the early modern period when the factual criteria were rejected in favour of economic ones. John Locke treated ownership as a legitimate reward for work. For the Romans ownership was above all part of the world in which they lived.

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