Hobson and Ritchie on the Justification of Rights of Property

Abstract

D.G. Ritchie is known as one of the leading philosophers of British Idealism. Some scholars have regarded him as one of pivotal figures of the New Liberalism, whose prominent theorists were J. A. Hobson and L. T. Hobhouse. However, Hobson and Ritchie had different views on the justification of individual rights including rights of property. Whereas Ritchie criticized the abstractiveness of traditional natural rights theory and insisted that rights of property should be based on social arrangements which were to be judged by the common good of society, Hobson argued that every individual should be assigned by nature, as his natural property, that portion of his product required to sustain his productive energy.