Abstract

This article deals with property laws, based on two premises. Firstly, property law as means to a contemporary comprehension of social and crime control. Secondly, it posits that the focus has shifted from law and society to law in society. It is concerned with the ways in which law and legality are interpreted and invoked in social life and focuses specifically on their role in the commonplace construction of home, tenure, exclusion, and jurisdiction. It analyses the relationship between the meanings of home and the relationship of home with housing tenure. It identifies defense and exclusion as particular aspects of the property relation, and draws on research into gated communities as a particular example of that relation. This article then proceeds to link this notion of exclusion with broader studies into mapping and jurisdiction. It emphasizes the formal and informal mechanisms through which the notions of home and tenure are thought. It draws on the law–geography interface as an example of research, which has the potential to extend the boundaries of our appreciation of property in law.