Oxford Universi- ty Press, 1992. Reviewed by David Schultz, Department of Political Science, Trinity University. Ely's book is part of Oxford University's bicentennial essays on the Bill of Rights and it offers opportune reconsidera- tion of the constitutional status of property rights in America at a time when property rights are yet again receiving serious reconsideration by the Supreme Court. The author argues three propositions that provide the analytical framework for the book. First, that the Founders envisioned some type of judicial protection of property rights.
Court apparently does.
Third, that the Framers understood that property rights were not absolute and that they would need to be limited in some way. Additionally, two other conclusions emerge out of Ely's book. Second, that the Court may yet again place more emphasis upon property rights, but not to the degree that it did prior to the New Deal. In using the first three points to frame the book, Ely first provides a brief introduction to the influence of British proper- ty rights discourse upon colonial America. Ely notes the impor- tance of Locke and Blackstone upon the Founders and indicates how they saw property as an important political concept associated with individual liberty.