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Homesteading for a natural reserve

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Eugene Posted: Sat, Sep 8 2012 4:19 PM

How big can be the area which I can homestead for that purpose? The typical answer of course is that this will be figured out in a free society. That's not a good answer in my opinion, so I'd appreciate a more concrete answer.

Another typical answer is that you can fence an area of any size if no one has claims to this area. I disagree with this as well. You are not supposed to take huge piece of resources for yourself even if noone  needs these resources right now. I agree with Lockean proviso that you should leave some resources for others.

What do you think?

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Eugene replied on Sat, Sep 8 2012 4:51 PM

There is also the issue that you don't really mix your labor with the land, because the whole purpose of the natural reserve is to be untouched by humans. So can you even homestead it at all? 

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Eugene replied on Sat, Sep 8 2012 4:58 PM

Okay, I just found another thread about this, but it doesn't answer my question: http://mises.org/community/forums/p/22910/400472.aspx

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Eugene:

How big can be the area which I can homestead for that purpose? The typical answer of course is that this will be figured out in a free society. That's not a good answer in my opinion, so I'd appreciate a more concrete answer.

That's your problem with these types of questions. You want a priori armchair legal analysis where it is an inappropriate method. The relevant social norms that arise are exactly what is needed in order to answer many of your questions, including this one.

When you can tell me the proper price of oranges in NYC through a priori armchair analysis, you'll be able to answer this question through a priori armchair analysis.

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