The Government should not defend excessive land claims

Our ownership of land (in fact, of all property) is contingent on the compliance of the rest of the population. If they agree to respect our land claims, then we can have exclusive use of the land. In exchange for staying off the land of others, we are repaid by having our land claims tolerated.

If we want to equalise the distribution of land then we can impose a ceiling on the ownership of land. It would be fairer (the land would be used more efficiently, in terms of generating wealth and happiness) to restrict wealthy landowners from owning an excess of land. The Government is not a neutral player in this, a laisser faire approach will result in land property (ownership) being dominated by a small number of people, since it is possible to rent excess land at more than the cost of living. A free market approach to land will result in land inequality, and inefficient use of the land.

The Government should desist from defending an excess of land to improve effective use of the land. If the Government only recognises (no more than) a reasonable quantity of land for each person then this will be better. If someone has more than a reasonable amount they should be invited to sell some of their land, or risk their ownership to be in dispute. We should be forced to sell some of our land, if we have too much, to improve land use.