Property in Vekllei

Part of the state series of articles

Property in Vekllei is not just a legal right but a foundation of their society. They have a completely new mode of living, without direct precedence or comparison, and the entitlement of ordinary people to land is a basic feature of their vision of a more productive and equitable society.

Property is the foundation of much of Vekllei life and culture. Almost all other aspects of their society flow on naturally from their assumptions about the core treatment of land and who may live there and work it.

Property is also the basic unit of the city, and most Vekllei people now live in cities. These are not just arrangements of buildings but societies in motion, and in this organic fashion can express living ideas. Vekllei is most importantly a democracy, and so its cities should be democratic. For that to happen, its basic unit, property, should be democratic too.

Core Principles of Property

• Property is an entitlement of all people in Vekllei
• Use and stewardship of property gives dignity and independence
• There should be public ownership of public needs, and private ownership of private needs
• There is no realtor except the municipality, and the architect is the agent of the municipality
• Beauty is a form of dignity and should be accessible to ordinary people
• Democracy is as much a way of living as it is a form of government

These facts refer specifically to the role of property and housing, but also apply across society in all aspects of Vekllei life. There are clear provisions for the dignity and independence of the individual while acknowledging the importance of social coordination for man and machine, which demonstrates the centrality of property to Vekllei society.

Rather than a straightforward legal contract, land ownership in Vekllei is an arena of competing claims between three agents. Land can and does own itself, and ownership is a contract with that land. As such, while a resident and steward of a plot of land may have de facto ownership, that claim has to be qualified in court against competing agents.

Claim Agents in Vekllei

• The Land – Land owns itself, and has its interests extrapolated by an advocate independent from the Public or Steward.
• The Public – The community and its advocate, the state. Most often, the municipality is the representative of the state.
• The Steward – The resident and steward of the land, who may live or work there.

In litigating ownership, the claims of each party are weighed against each other to produce a legal consensus, though that consensus may only be partial or non-binding. Ownership is not a binary legal concept and so while the Steward may have the strongest claim to ownership, that fact does not force total concession of the other agents. In most cases, all three agents have some rights and consequently some measure of claim.

Claims are strengthened by the amount of labour or time an agent has spent with the land, historical context, familial and sentimental values, public benefit, improvements made by the agent, and the planning of the community.