|
Abstract: Although encampments have become increasingly common, they remain under-theorized, especially in the field of property law. Homeless encampments are ubiquitous in many cities. Social movements—such as Occupy Wall Street, the Freedom Convoy Movement, and college campus protests related to the war in Gaza—involve encampments that aim to catalyze social change. Yet surprisingly, legal scholars have devoted relatively little attention to encampments. This is a major oversight. Encampments matter for a range of moral, philosophical, and legal reasons that are hiding in plain sight and generate important theoretical and practical consequences that require deeper scrutiny.
This Article aims to fill this gap and advances a novel theory about encampments and their connection to property law. It argues that encampments are a unique form of self-help where individuals attempt to assert a de facto private property right over public property. In doing so, encampment residents may attempt to grant themselves an informal power of exclusion and agenda-setting authority. This Article demonstrates that encampments impact three core features of the property law system: allocation, public authority, and reciprocity.
This Article offers an innovative account that distinguishes the normative features of homeless encampments versus social movement encampments. Homeless encampments stem from different causes, highlight the property law system’s distributive underinclusiveness, and require distinct governmental responses—all of which underpin a new justification for the state’s duty to help individuals secure access to housing. Ultimately this Article deepens our understanding of encampments, property law, and their interrelationship.
|