No one is compelled to sell his own property, even at a just price.

Explanation

A man's property is his own and cannot be taken from him by compulsion, even upon the offer of fair market value — the right of the owner to refuse to sell is absolute, and no government or private party may force a sale against the owner's will without his consent.

Where this applies

• A city offers a homeowner fair market value through eminent domain, but the owner refuses to sell and argues that no price, however fair, can compel him to give up what is his.
• A developer pressures a farmer to sell prime farmland at above-market price, but the farmer declines and no court can force the sale simply because the offer is generous.
• A government agency attempts to acquire a family's property for a public project by offering appraised value, but the family invokes its right to refuse any forced sale of its own land.

See also

• 2.4.1 The laws of nature are immutable.
• 5.1.1 The right of property is that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of any other individual.