"On the rise of the value of “bond” into the property concept"

Abstract: This article is part of the debate between gift and law, and focuses in a particular way on the concept and phenomenon of “private property”. It attempts to demonstrate that the traditional model, based on the exclusive power over a good granted to an individual and the freedom to dispose of it and enjoy it for personal gain, has over time given way to a different idea. This could be de ned as “relational”, inasmuch as it emphasises the social function of property, where a person’s goods are not only a way of satisfying private interests, but are also means of safeguarding of the common good, and of the reinforcement of a common ownership. This research explores a strand of juridical thought which reveals traces of a “relational” idea of “private property”. What emerges is the value of a “bond”, which makes personal objects, when shared, become “goods at the service of bonds”.