# Critique of Law and Government in What Is Property?

> Theme guide for What Is Property? by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

Argues that civil law and government are tools that sanctify property and oppression, rather than protect natural rights, and that true society requires the abolition of man's rule over man.

## Where it surfaces

- [P. J. Proudhon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/p-j-proudhon): Proudhon's legal troubles, his critique of civil law as a foundation of property, and his advocacy for federalism as a check on state power are highlighted.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/i): Proudhon critiques the authority of man over man, questioning the justice of despotism, civil inequality, and the role of law in upholding property.
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/ii): The chapter critiques legal definitions of property from Roman law to the Napoleonic Code, exposing their role in legitimizing absolute dominion.
- [§ 1: Property as a Natural Right](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/1-property-as-a-natural-right): Criticizes the Declaration of Rights, the tax system, and the state for defending property rather than natural rights.
- [§ 2: Occupation, as the Title to Property](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/2-occupation-as-the-title-to-property): Proudhon critiques legal and philosophical justifications of property, including those from Cicero, Grotius, and Reid, as failing to establish legitimate property rights.
- [§ 3: Civil Law as the Foundation and Sanction of Property](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/3-civil-law-as-the-foundation-and-sanction-of-property): Proudhon attacks civil law for creating property as a fiction, outside natural justice, and for sanctioning selfishness.
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/iii): Proudhon criticizes the Civil Code and legal system for contradicting the labor theory of property.
- [§ 2: Universal Consent No Justification of Property](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/2-universal-consent-no-justification-of-property): Proudhon rejects the legitimacy of a social contract that would justify property, calling it null in justice.
- [§ 3: Prescription Gives No Title to Property](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/3-prescription-gives-no-title-to-property): The chapter attacks civil law's creation of property through prescription, calling it a fiction that exceeds legitimate legislative power.
- [§ 6: That in Society All Wages Are Equal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/6-that-in-society-all-wages-are-equal): Proudhon critiques the St. Simonian and Fourierist principles as being influenced by the property idea and as antisocial.
- [Demonstration](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/demonstration): Criticizes the legal and economic justifications for property, including the role of civil law and economists.
- [First Proposition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/first-proposition): Criticizes civil law for sanctioning monopoly and injustice, as seen in the discussion of Buchanan and the civil law basis of property.
- [Fifth Proposition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/fifth-proposition): Proudhon criticizes economists and the legal system that upholds property and usury.
- [Sixth Proposition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/sixth-proposition): The chapter critiques government as an institution that upholds property and thus tyranny.
- [Seventh Proposition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/seventh-proposition): Proudhon criticizes government borrowing and taxation as a form of capitalization that perpetuates property and inequality.
- [Eighth Proposition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/eighth-proposition): He questions the legislator's justice and wisdom, and dismisses laws and institutions built on the impossibility of property as shams.
- [Ninth Proposition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/ninth-proposition): The chapter critiques commercial legislation and the Code Napoleon for enshrining property rights that rely on might rather than justice.
- [§ 3](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/part-i-3): Criticizes civil and administrative power for upholding property-based iniquity, demanding reconstruction on political equality.
- [§ 2 Characteristics of Communism and of Property](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/part-ii-2): Proudhon argues that property necessarily engenders despotism and that government is impossible while property exists, as proprietors become despotic kings.
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/chapters/endnotes): Proudhon criticizes representative government and the tyranny of talkers, linking them to the perpetuation of property and disorder.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/themes/critique_of_law_and_government
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_property_se/themes