Introduction

This chapter outlines Paul Babie’s proposition that the formal liberal account of private property casts a shadow over what is really happening when it is said that a person holds property in a any resource or thing. Babie argues that the formal liberal account, which he calls ‘shadow property’ masks, covers, of casts its shadow over what is really happening: that when a person holds private property in a thing or resource, it allows that person to exercise ego, or preference-satisfaction, over that thing, to the disregard of how that choice may affect others.