Limits to and licenses for private appropriation in the state of nature according to John Locke

Abstract

This paper studies critically six possible limits to private, individual, unilateral and unequal appropriation in the state of nature described by John Locke. I) The restriction expressed in the form of enough and as good left in common for others; II) the prohibition on wasting perishable goods; III) associated with the second condition but applying to the land, the prohibition on enclosing land whose fruits are perishable; IV) the limitation proposed by Macpherson, according to which mixing one’s own work personally with the object is a condition of appropriation; V) the principle of charity as a right of the needy to the means of subsistence; VI) the limitation which Simmons points out, according to which it is possible to derive from the principal of charity a right to self-government, that is, to not be enslaved in exchange for giving, as is the duty of the property owner to the needy, the means of subsistence.