Let's just say I randomly find a brand new continent (or planet, or whatever large, unclaimed area you choose). What are the limits to my homesteading it? Could i just, for example, claim the entire continent by fencing it off, or even just marking a map? I anticipate somebody saying "homesteading is applying labor to some unused portion of land," but who's to say whether I'm using it or not, right? Do I have to immediately use it in order to say that it's actually mine, or am I allowed to hold onto it until I'm ready to use it in 5 or 10 years? If it's really mine, it shouldn't matter what I do with it, but then what's to stop somebody from claiming, say, the moon, just in case his descendents ever want it? Is it like calling shotgun: you have to be close to it to call it?
Is there somewhere where this question is treated a little more thoroughly? And yes I recognize how impractical these questions are; just curious.
Yes, along with de Jasay's Justice and Its Surroundings. Parts of the latter are available online at the Online Library of Liberty. It has been a while since I read Bastiat's The Law, but as I recall I thought it was good - though it's obviously a very brief treatment of the subject. A book called De Jasay and His Surroundings is also good, particularly the essay in it by Jan Narveson; another author I read for a contractarian angle on justice and rights.
It has been a while since I read Bastiat's The Law, but as I recall I thought it was good - though it's obviously a very brief treatment of the subject.
A book called De Jasay and His Surroundings is also good, particularly the essay in it by Jan Narveson; another author I read for a contractarian angle on justice and rights.
I'll look into them and add them to my list. Thanks!
You can't hurry up good times by waiting for them.