»Complex structures of freedom and unfreedom«

The reciprocal relationship between property theory and property dogmatics has developed a structural idea of property which – with differences in the details – appears to be capable of consensus in many constitutional systems as well as in international law. This structure is based on the allocation of individual and collective interests and thus of freedom and responsibility. In consequence, understanding a system of goods as a property system does not merely mean the recognition of individual legal positions, but rather also the activation of social responsibility and the opening of possibilities for regulation and intervention in the collective interest. The structural gain associated with the application of property logics must find its way into a consequentialist theory of property justification. The article illustrates this with regard to the debate on the recognition of »financial property".