Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Property is an arbitrary rule

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1322970/Catherine-Sackville-West-grew-Kents-Knole-House-echo-Downton-Abbey.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Catherine Sackville descendent of the previous Lord Sackville, who owned Knole House, could not inherit the property due to the rules of male succession. Three of her sisters rent on the estate instead.

'as he allows three of Catherine’s sisters to rent small properties on the estate.'

Such an odd and arbitrary thing is "property". Simply because of a feature of the "rules of the game" the estate does not belong to her or her sisters. And so they now pay rent on what but for an insignificant change in the rules once could have been theirs. How arbitrary is the payment of rent then, a feature of arbitrary rules. Money that is acrued for no reason than "artificial" rules.

This particular situation shows, to me at least, the actual and relative nature of society in stark contrast.

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