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From: nrh@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Re: A Question for Libertarians
Message-ID: <1818@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Nov-84 01:56:27 EST
Article-I.D.: inmet.1818
Posted: Sat Nov 17 01:56:27 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 19-Nov-84 02:46:31 EST
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Nf-ID: #R:klipper:-35800:inmet:7800179:000:1617
Nf-From: inmet!nrh    Nov 15 14:04:00 1984

***** inmet:net.politics / talcott!gjk / 10:30 pm  Nov 13, 1984
> 	Suppose I own some piece of land, and while I'm on it my
> 	neighbour buys all the surrounding land and tells me that
> 	I am not allowed to pass over it. He certainly isn't initi-
> 	ating force, nor does he impose an active duty upon me. Ne-
> 	vertheless he can starve me to death in this way. Is that
> 	allowed? If not, who is there to protect me? (Are my protec-
> 	tors allowed to pass over my neighbour's land?).

I seem to remember that something like this actually happened in the 19th
century, but all I remember is the tag "Corn and Enclosure laws", not
anything else.

There are a couple of possible answers to this dilemma:

1. Forseeing this possibility, you make a compact with the owner of
any road you need to get to your property.  The compact binds the
road owner (and contractually binds him to bind buyers of the road) to 
allow you access.

2. NOT forseeing this possibility, you sneak out over his land one dark
night.  You've escaped.  You now contact the "anti enclosure league"
and try to get a boycott going of his produce.  Better yet, you 
get the property owners surrounding HIM not to allow HIM off his land.
Yes, by sneaking out over his land you've broken the law.  If you
really want to avoid that you can signal a passing helicopter 
for help (depending on what "air rights" means in such a society).

In a libertarian society my guess is that #1 would almost always apply.
In buying property, you'd find and buy access rights to it, just as in buying
land today you do a title search, and buy a utilities hookup.