Property Rights and Poverty

306 Pages·1990·52.958 MB·English

by  Thomas A. Horne

PROPERTY RIGHTS AND POVERTY

THOMAS A. HpRNE
Property Rights and Poverty
Political Argument in Britain,
1605—1834
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill and London
© 1990 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book
Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
94 93 92 91 90 54321
Home, Thomas A. (Thomas Allen), 1947-
Property rights and poverty : political argument in Britain,
1605-1834 I by Thomas A. Horne.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 0-8078-1912-3 (alk. paper)
1. Right of property—Great Britain—History. 2. Welfare rights
movement—Great Britain—History. 3. Political science—Great
Britain—History. I. Title.
JC605.H67 1990
330.1'7—de 20 89-77791
CIP
Portions of this work appeared earlier, in somewhat different form, as
“Economic and Moral Improvement: Francis Hutcheson on
Property," History of Political Thought 8, no. 1 (1987), reprinted by
permission of the publisher; “Welfare Rights as Property Rights: An
Historical Perspective," in Responsibility, Rights, and Welfare, ed.
J. Donald Moon (Boulder, Colo., 1988), reprinted by permission of
Westview Press; and “The Poor Have a Claim Founded on the Law of
Nature: William Paley and the Rights of the Prior," Journal of the
History of Philosophy 23, no. 1 (Jan. 1985), copyright 1985 by the
Journal of the History of Philosophy, reprinted by permission of
the journal.
TO
Emily and Abigail

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
number of scholars have read this manuscript and made sugges­
A
tions for its improvement. Eldon Eisenach, Julian Franklin,
.Richard Teichgraeber, and Cheryl Welch were kind enough to
read it in its entirety. The attention they paid to the manuscript and the
invaluable criticisms they made have put me deeply in their debt. I also
want to thank Joseph Kestner, Michael Mosher, and Paul Rahe, col­
leagues of mine at the University of Tulsa, for reading parts of the manu­
script and for their lively and learned conversation. Leann Anderson
typed the manuscript and for that I am most grateful. Without the sup­
port and patience of my wife, Kathryn, 1 would never have been able to
finish this project.
Fellowship support from the National Endowment for the Humanities
enabled me to spend the academic year 1986-87 working full time on
the manuscript. Summer stipends from the University of Tulsa provided
support in 1984 and 1985.
Some of the arguments presented here first appeared in essay form.
“The Poor Have a Claim Founded on the Law of Nature: William Paley
and the Rights of the Poor” was published by the Journal of the History
of Philosophy 23, no. 1 (1985); “Economic and Moral Improvement:
Francis Hutcheson on Property” was published by the History of Politi­
cal Thought 8, no. 1 (1987); and “Welfare Rights as Property Rights”
was included in J. Donald Moon, ed., Responsibility, Rights, and Welfare
(Boulder, Colo.: 1988). I thank publishers and editors for permission to
reprint.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction y
ONE
The Natural Right to Property
Grotius to Pufendorf 9
TWO
The Right to Property and the Right to Representation
Tyrrell, Locke, and Sidney 41
THREE
Property Rights and Progress
Hutcheson to Smith 73
FOUR
Paternalism and the Poor Law
Paley and Others 123
FIVE
Property Rights, Utility, and Political Economy
Bentham to Longfield 142
six
Welfare Rights and Radical Politics
Paine to the Poor Man’s Guardian 201
Conclusion 252
Notes 259
Bibliography 269
Index 283