Note 36 — Chapter V · PRIVATE LANDOWNERSHIP A NATURAL RIGHT

The argument in the text is obviously empirical, drawn from consequences. There is, however, a putatively intrinsic or metaphysical argument which is sometimes urged against the justice of the Single Tax system. It runs thus: since the fruits of a thing belong to the owner of the thing, "res fructificat domino," rent, which is the economically imputed fruit of land, necessarily and as a matter of natural right should go to the owner of the land. As will be shown later, the formula at the basis of this contention is not a metaphysical principle at all, but a conclusion from experience. Like every other formula or principle of property rights, it must find its ultimate basis in human welfare.