Moral Obligation and Natural Capital Commons on Private Land: Perspectives on Peter Gerhart’s Property Law and Social Morality

This Article makes a simple and hopefully straightforward attempt to demonstrate how Gerhart’s property theory fills the gaps in privatized commons resource theory. Part II describes in more detail privatized commons resource theory, while Part III discusses Gerhart’s theory both generally and more specifically in the context of natural resources management. This Part first analyzes Gerhart’s explicit grappling with the commons broadly, and more directly wrestles with how his theory lays a legal framework for addressing temporal commons and the interests of future generations in natural capital. Next, this Part discusses the role of positive public law in manifesting society’s moral choice regarding natural capital appropriation.

Finally, this Part addresses the weaknesses of traditional law and economics analysis, as highlighted in both privatized commons resource theory and Gerhart’s theory, and how it does not adequately account for society’s interest in natural capital. Part IV concludes.