Well, while that laissez-faire ideal didn't last long, effectively gone by the end of the last century, it is still exists to a degree and can exist again if we, as free people, decide to stop the government from regulating our property. Let me first lay out my position on the meaning of property rights, since the definition changes depending to whom you are talking to. Property is always produced or owned by people and is needed by people to live their lives. Whoever controls this production or property then decides who effectively lives and dies, which is what happens in statist or collectivist regimes. Of course, the right to property does not mean you that will simply be granted possession of property.
Property then becomes the manifestation of a human being's productive intellect.
In the free market, a human being who makes the correct decisions will prosper while those who make incorrect decisions will not. Property is the very symbol of a person's freedom. The right to own property is as well. Any action against the right to property is an attack on the very concept of freedom. That premise is completely wrong.