the rights of possession or ownership recognized within a society. Such possessions may be individually or collectively owned (including corporate as well as communal or state ownership), and include rights to LAND and housing, MEANS OF PRODUCTION or CAPITAL, and sometimes other human beings (see SLAVERY). Wide variations exist in the rights recognized within different societies, and these differences are often regarded as fundamental in determining overall differences between societies (see MODES OF PRODUCTION). In their widest sense, rights of property include rights to alienate (to sell, will, etc.), but often may be limited to rights of control and rights to benefit from use. Historically – e.g. in many simple societies and preindustrial agrarian societies -‘absolute rights’ of private property have been comparatively rare. Conceptions of’absolute rights’ of private property existed for a time in ANCIENT SOCIETY, but achieve a decisive importance only in CAPITALIST SOCIETIES -even then restrictions have usually remained.
 
Justifications of forms of property are an important part of the ideological legitimation which occurs in most societies, not least justifications of private property notwithstanding that one of the justifications for private property has been the argument that it is a ‘natural’ form (see LOCKE, SMITH, CLASSICAL ECONOMISTS). Among important justifications for it have been the idea, especially influential in the period preceding modern capitalism, that individuals have a right to the fruits of their own labour (see also LABOUR THEORY OF VALUE). Arguments for unlimited rights to private property have been countered by an emphasis on the ‘social’ character of all production, the concept of social ‘needs’, and conceptions of social JUSTICE and ideals of EQUALITY (see also SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM). On the other hand the recognition of individual property rights has been emphasized as a significant source of limitations on STATE power, the development of CIVIL SOCIETY, and the appearance of modern CITIZEN RIGHTS (see also NEW RIGHT).
 
Sociological assessment of differences in, and consequences of differences between, societies in property rights is usually considered by sociologists to require more than regard merely to legal categories of property. An assessment of effective ownership and control, and the inequalities in wealth and income, life-chances, etc. related to these, is also essential. See also CONCENTRATION OF OWNERSHIP, PUBLIC OWNERSHIP.
Source: https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Right+to+own+property