Inheritance, bequest, and devise: Property rights on the graveyard shift Open Access
Hansard, Seth Andrew (2012)
Published
Abstract
Abstract
Inheritance, bequest, and devise: Property rights on the graveyard shift
The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether the powers
to bequest and devise, as part of a group of property rights, are
justifiable according to present-day American values. The first
chapter is a summary of certain political-philosophical revisions
of inheritance laws and their purposes since the recorded emergence
of bequest and devise in medieval England. Reviewing this series of
shifts throws into question whether any specific right to
inheritance can be said to exist, suggesting it has merely been a
useful convention throughout history. In chapter two, the
discussion of bequest and devise as such is suspended temporarily
in order to discuss the interaction of two contradictory and
sometimes loosely-delineated sets of values in America. These value
sets are discussed in relation to the philosophers John Locke and
Robert Nozick on one side and John Stuart Mill on the other, aiming
to maximize individual liberty and social utility respectively.
Finally, the inquiry re-introduces bequest and devise within the
philosophical
framework developed in the second chapter. Bequest and devise are
debated as rights potentially beneficial and potentially harmful.
The alleged negative effects of these powers gain attention in
Bruce Ackerman's and Anne Alstott's Stakeholder Society and
in Mark Ascher's Curtailing Inherited Wealth. Both
these works suggest major reductions to the powers of bequest
and
devise, along with other property rights, as justified by the needs
and rights of society. The conclusions of the inquiry ultimately
oppose these suggestions, citing the necessity to protect
incentives for accumulating wealth, including, at least in small
part, the rights to bequest and devise.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction: Inheritance and its critics 1
Chapter 1: Prior debates and revisions 8
Chapter 2: A confluence of concerns 25
Chapter 3: The merits of bequest and devise 40
Works Cited 59
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