On Property as Self

Abstract

Certain objects are, at certain times, invested with a psychological importance by certain people that is tantamount to the establishment of a property right analogous to the right of self-protection. We refer to this circumstance by the phrase “property as self” We maintain that when property has been thus “cathected,”² the attachment is reasonable, and the world has been put on notice, the property should be protected, under public and private law, as would be the investing individual. Thus certain acts against objects should be considered direct affronts against persons, thereby changing the severity of the offenses. Arguments are presented as to why and how this could be implemented and how justice would thus be served.