Imagine yourself living in a pre-political moment, where individual rights and, by extension, property rights do not exist. The colony generally respects the things that you claim are yours, but there are a few diabolical people who have little reservation to use force and take what you have worked hard to acquire. In this place, there are no mediating institutions, nothing codified that attempts to define rights, and no titles or deeds. Power is the mediator, and the weaker individuals will stake a claim to property and pray that it is respected.

Now, imagine for a moment longer how this system would affect the ability of a community to cohere. Although most people would naturally come to respect your claim, the minority would sow seeds of discord and render cohesion impossible. Neighbors would question the motive of other neighbors. Families would have little way of ensuring land and other valuables would be passed along to future generations.