There is no such thing as natural property, and that it is entirely the work of law.

Property is nothing but a basis of expectation ; the expectation of deriving certain advantages from a thing which we are said to possess, in consequence of the relation in which we stand towards it ... in the persuasion of being able to draw such or such an advantage from the thing possessed ... this persuasion, can only be the work of law. I cannot count upon the enjoyment of that which I regard as mine, except through the promise of the law which guarantees it to me. That which, in the natural state, was an almost invisible thread, in the social state becomes a cable. Property and law are born together, and die together ... [security is respect of property provided by the law and guaranteeing happiness of society]. Poverty is not the work of the laws, it is the primitive condition of the human race ... Thus the laws, in creating riches, are the benefactors of those who remain in the poverty of nature. All participate more or less in the pleasures, the advantages, and the resources of civilized society ... the protection of the laws may contribute as much to the happiness of the cottage as to the security of the palace. Men universally desire to enjoy speedily to enjoy without labour. It is that desire which is terrible; since it arms all who have not against all who have. The law which restrains that desire is the noblest triumph of humanity over itself. The evils which result from violations of property: Ist. Evil of Non-Possession, If the acquisition of a portion of wealth is a good, it follows that the non-possession of it is an evil, though only a negative evil ... 2nd. Pain of Losing, property becomes a part of our being, and cannot be torn from us without rending us to the quick ... 3rd. Fear of Losing. To regret for what we have lost is joined inquietude as to what we possess, and even as to what we may acquire ... When insecurity reaches a certain point, the fear of losing prevents us from enjoying what we possess already. The care of preserving condemns us to a thousand sad and painful precautions, which yet are always liable to fail of their end ... 4th. Deadening of Industry. When I despair of making myself sure of the produce of my labour, I only seek to exist from day to day. I am unwilling to give myself cares which will only be profitable to my enemies. An attack upon the property of an individual excites alarm among other proprietors. This sentiment spreads from neighbour to neighbour, till at last the contagion possesses the entire body of the state. Power and will must unite for the development of industry. "Will depends upon encouragement ; power upon means. These means are what is called, in the language of political economy, productive capital. ... Nothing is sufficient to deaden industry, except the operation of a domestic and permanent cause, such as a tyrannical government, bad legislation, an intolerant religion which drives men from the country, or a minute superstition which stupefies them. That government [the despotic Turk] odious to every thinking man, has never known that a state cannot grow rich except by an inviolable respect for property ... there are no men to be found in those unhappy countries, where the slow but fatal despair of long insecurity has destroyed all the active faculties of the soul. ... the progress of security, and of prosperity, its inseparable companion. North America presents to us a most striking contrast. Savage nature may be seen there, side by side with civilized nature. The interior of that immense region offers only a frightful solitude, impenetrable forests or sterile plains, stagnant waters and impure vapours ; such is the earth when left to itself [but what brings men to a civilised state?) That beneficent genius is Security. It is security which has wrought this great metamorphosis. IN consulting the grand principle of security, what ought the legislator to decree respecting the mass of property already existing? He ought to maintain the distribution as it is actually established. The supreme principle of security commands the preservation of all these distributions, though their nature is so different, and though they do not produce the same sum of happiness. How make another distribution without taking away from each that which he has? And how despoil any without attacking the security of all? ... When security and equality are in conflict, it will not do to hesitate a moment. Equality must yield. The first is the foundation of life; subsistence, abundance, happiness, everything depends upon it ... if property should be overturned with the direct intention of establishing an equality of possessions, the evil would be irreparable. No more security, no more industry, no more abundance! Society would return to the savage state whence it emerged. If equality ought to prevail today it ought to prevail always. Yet it cannot be preserved except by renewing the violence by which it was established. It will need an army of inquisitors and executioners as deaf to favour as to pity ; insensible to the seductions of pleasure ; inaccessible to personal interest ; endowed with all the virtues, though in a service which destroys them all. The levelling apparatus ought to go... Security, while preserving its place as the supreme principle, leads indirectly to Equality; while equality, if taken as the basis of the social arrangement, will destroy both itself and security at the same time.