PRIVATE  PROPERTY  IN  LAND

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sion,  ownership,  and  property,  used  in  describing  the
tenure  of  land,  we  find  that  while  they  are  far  from
synonymous,  they  yet  have  much  in  common,  and
the  terms  are  often  used  interchangeably.  The
“possession”  of  the  dictionaries  does  not  always
imply  ownership;  but  possession  does  imply  the  same
physical  dominion  that  belongs  of  right  to  ownership
—  which  right  the  legal  title  to  ownership  grants  and
conveys.  Henry  George’s  proposal  was  to  leave
owners  in  possession  of  land,  and  to  accord  to  that
possession  the  legal  right  of  physical  dominion  by
means  of  a  broad  definition  of  the  word,  made  to
include  the  right  “to  buy  and  sell,  bequeath  and
devise,”*  or,  in  the  usual  form  of  the  real  estate  deed,
“to  give,  grant,  bargain,  sell,  and  convey”—a  right
universally  granted  to  ownership  and  property.
A  title  to  land  is  a  title  to  the  rights  and  privileges
that  constitute  its  value,  and  that,  largely  at  least,
are  created  by  the  labour  of  the  community.  Title
to  the  land  itself,  whether  its  value  is  one  dollar  or  a
million  dollars,  is  necessary  to  security  of  improvements. ­
  Title  to  the  annual  value  of  land  —  ground
rent  —  is  not  necessary  to  the  security  of  improvements, ­
  which  would  be  equally  secure  whether  onequarter
  or  three-quarters  of  ground  rent  be  taken  in
taxation.  The  dictionaries  do  not  include  land  value
in  their  definition  of  land.  Land  itself,  deprived  of
the  rights  and  privileges  pertaining  thereto  —  that  is,
land  with  a  ninety-nine  years’  restriction  of  a  tight
and  high  board  fence  around  it  so  that  there  would
be  no  legal  right  of  way  to  and  from  it  —  could  have
no  market  value.  The  value  of  land  is  in  large  part

*  “  Progress  and  Poverty”  (Doubleday,  Page  &  Company),  1906,  p.  403.