Focusing on U.S. property rights law and the notions of private property and the Rule of Law, this book paints an unconventional picture of law and rights in general. Law and rights shift and cycle as systematic factors like increasing numbers and complexity produce tough institutional choices and unexpected combinations of goals and institutions, such as private property best protected by the unconstrained political process and communitarian values best achieved through exit and atomistic markets. These forces also frustrate attempts to export the U.S. image of rights. Although there may be an important role for law, rights and courts both in the U.S. and abroad, it can not be easily defined. This book proposes a way to define that role and to change the way we look at law.