In an age when few Americans can define "right" or explain how the founding fathers defined rights, Scott's book is indispensable for a correct understanding of rights and how property rights are inextricably linked to all rights. The erosion of the former leads to the erosion of the latter. No less important, Professor Scott uses Lockean thought as the key to understanding what the founders meant by property rights and examines the Kelo decision to reveal how far modern-day courts have strayed from the original intent.

Troy Kickler, director of the North Carolina History Project

An excellent historical, legal, and theoretical analysis of property rights and their place in an ordered society.... It is a bracing good read.... Recommended.

Choice Reviews

Kelo v. City of New London kicked up a firestorm of debate and legislative reactions in its immediate aftermath. Lost in the heat of the moment was the plight of a fundamental right. Dr. Kyle remedies that deficiency by providing the reader with a substantive analysis of property rights' original constitutionally marbled pedestal and the manner and extent to which the court majority replaced that support with the quicksand of partisan politics.

Marshall L. DeRosa, Political Scientist at Florida Atlantic University and author of several books