Klamath Irrigation District v. United States

OPINION

ALLEGRA, Judge.

What is property? The derivation of the word is simple enough, arising from the Latin proprietas or “ownership,” in turn stemming from proprius, meaning “own” or “proper.” But, this etymology reveals little. Philosophers such as Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, Grotius, Pufendorf and Locke each, in turn, have debated the meaning of this term, as later did legal luminaries such as Blackstone, Madison and Holmes, and even economists such as Coase.

Here, the court must give practical meaning to the term “property” as used in a specific legal context, a constitutional one, to wit,…