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9 S. Afr. J. on Hum. Rts. 388 (1993)
The Problem with Property: Thoughts on the Constitutional Protection of Property in the United States and the Commonwealth

handle is hein.journals/soafjhr9 and id is 404 raw text is: THE PROBLEM WITH PROPERTY: THOUGHTS ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION OF PROPERTY IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE COMMONWEALTH MATTHEW CHASKALSON* 1 INTRODUCTION As South Africa advances towards its first democratic constitution there appears to be a broad consensus among the major negotiating parties that this constitution will protect property rights.' Consensus on such a contentious issue is surprising. A proposal to include property rights in the Canadian Charter provoked much animated debate in Canada, and was ultimately rejected.2 Canada is a country with a much more equitable distribution of property than our own, yet the parties negotiating our constitutional future do not seem to share the Canadian anxiety about protecting property. The complacency of our leaders with respect to property rights is all the more remarkable when viewed in the light of experiences of countries where the right to property has been protected constitutionally. In the following paper I discuss some aspects of these experiences. The countries which I examine are, with the exception of the United States, all Commonwealth countries. The selection of countries is based on my inability to read any international languages other than English, but we should bear in mind that most South African lawyers share my limitations in this regard. Thus we can expect the case law of English speaking jurisdictions to exercise a dominant influence over the development of South African constitutional law. * BA (Hons) LLB (Witwatersrand), Lecturer in law, University of the Witwatersrand I There are disputes over the extent of the protection to be provided in a bill of rights but substantial protection of property rights is proposed in all of the draft bills of rights that have been published by parties to the multilateral negotiating forum. See Art 13 of the ANC Draft Bill of Rights (November 1990), Art 18 of the National Party Draft Bill of Rights (February 1993), Arts 34-36 of the Inkatha Freedom Party Draft Bill of Rights (December 1992). Art 9 of the Democratic Party Draft Bill of Rights (May 1993). 2 See RW Bauman 'Property Rights in the Canadian Constitutional Context* (1992) 8 SAJHR 344. 388

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