Ökologisches Eigentum

Franca Emilia Lorber

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-200765-0

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Franca Emilia Lorber

Ökologisches Eigentum

[Ecological Property.]

2026. 240 pages.

forthcoming in August 2026

Studien und Beiträge zum Öffentlichen Recht (StudÖR)

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-200765-0

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Summary

What does property have to do with nature conservation and environmental protection? Ownerless natural areas, new human-environment relationships, and rights of nature show that property can be ecological. Franca Emilia Lorber explains how the Basic Law can be rethought for this purpose and why our freedom depends on an intact environment.

Property, by virtue of its constitutional design as both an institutional guarantee and an individual guarantee of vested rights, possesses a particular capacity to shape and guide processes of societal transformation. In light of the ecological challenges of the Anthropocene-most notably biodiversity loss, climate change, and environmental pollution-property law is increasingly under pressure to adapt. Much like during the upheavals of the bourgeois revolutions and the emergence of socially obligated property, it now faces the task of aligning its normative structure with the requirements of ecological sustainability and effective environmental protection.
This study develops legal concepts aimed at strengthening environmental and nature protection through an ecological recalibration of the constitutional guarantee of property under Article 14 of the Basic Law. Based on a doctrinal constitutional analysis, three complementary forms of ecological property are identified: non-property (1), which protects nature in its reserve and potentiality functions; the recognition of nature as a legal subject (2), which enhances its capacity for enforcement and defense; and ecologically obligated property (3), which emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between humans and nature, as well as the dependence of human freedom on an intact environment.
These approaches are systematically developed within a constitutional-theoretical and doctrinal framework. Finally, the study offers policy recommendations for shaping ecological property as a legal framework for responsibly addressing conflicts at the intersection of property and nature.

Table of contents:

Einleitung
A. Warum Eigentum? - B. Evolution statt Revolution
§ 1 Normative Grundstruktur
A. Dynamisches Eigentumsverständnis - B. Inhalts- und Schrankenbestimmungen - C. Gestaltungsaufträge als normative Öffnungsklauseln - D. Abwägungspflicht als Instrument differenzierter Interessenbewertung - E. Enteignung als Flächenbeschaffungsinstrument - F. Vergesellschaftung als verwaltungsbezogener Anwendungsmodus - G. Ökologisierung als Entwicklungspfad
§ 2 Ökologisches Eigentum de lege lata?
A. Privateigentum und Umweltschutz - B. Aufbruch zum Ökologischen Eigentum
§ 3 Ökologisches Eigentum für welche Natur?
A. Sich der Natur nähern - B. Natur als Rechtsbegriff
§ 4 Natur als Nichteigentum
A. Ursprung und Regelungen - B. Perspektiven - C. Konflikte - D. Mehr als nicht Eigentum
§ 5 Natur als Menscheneigentum
A. Ursprung und Regelungen - B. Perspektiven - C. Konflikte - D. Biodivers, relational, posthumanistisch
§ 6 Natur als Eigentümerin
A. Ursprung und Regelungen - B. Perspektiven - C. Konflikte - D. Unbehagen am Neuen
Dreidimensionales Ökologisches Eigentum
A. Konzept kompakt - B. Konzept zu weit? - C. Notwendigkeit der Orientierung - D. Verfassungsvertrauen - E. Rechtspolitische Profilierung