Property As a Complex System

Abstract: Current property theory assumes a direct connection between the purposes of property and various facts about the world. Despite a concern about complexity, true complexity in the sense of systems theory – dense interconnection between the elements of a system – is systematically downplayed or ignored. The possibility that the resources, their attributes, and the property law devices built around them show “organized complexity” supplies the missing ingredient that helps provide better static and dynamic accounts of entitlement structure, remedies, and systemic concepts like possession.