Concealed Feudal Privilege: The Past and the Future in the Making of Property Law

This article critically examines the evolution of private property law from its origins in European and American legal traditions to its current entanglement with global capitalism and digital technology. Drawing on historical analysis and recent scholarship, the author argues that modern private property, far from realizing the promise of emancipation from feudal privilege, has served to cloak new forms of class domination. Through narratives crafted by jurists, property law has continually mediated the interests of the powerful and marginalized popular masses, substituting class-based privilege for blood privilege. The article explores how legal concepts—such as privacy and the social function of property—have been strategically used to mask ongoing inequalities and facilitate the transformation of commons into capitalist assets. It further discusses the rise of "techno-feudalism" on the Internet, where platform overlords exert de facto control, eroding users’ legal subjectivity and perpetuating domination under the guise of individual autonomy and property rights. Ultimately, the article calls for a renewed social theory—"communology"—that addresses contemporary geopolitical and technological challenges, urging legal scholars to learn from history and reassess the role of property law in perpetuating or challenging social hierarchies.