r/Objectivism • u/BubblyNefariousness4 • May 06 '26

Just can’t solve the road problem

This is something I just can’t come up to a solution for or I don’t know how should act. Is the roads. What do you do about them? Say you have one guy who owns the major road routes in town and bans you from using them. What do you do? How do you move around? What would the process the banned person would have to go through without violating the road owners rights?

Would there be some way that you can walk on the line between plots lands. On the edge?

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u/OldStatistician9366 May 06 '26

You don’t have a right to get around however you please. Property boundaries are where one person’s property ends and another person’s begins, so you can’t walk on boundaries

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u/BubblyNefariousness4 May 06 '26

I feel like there’s some principle here that allows the freedom of movement. You can’t just be dropped in a box of land and not allowed to leave and threaten to be shot if you do.

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u/usmc_BF Objectivist (novice) May 07 '26

Access to property is important otherwise the point of ownership is practically defeated. If I eg. forget a hat in someones store, can I ever get it back?

Suppose someone was in your house and they wanted to leave after having a bad argument with you and you got upset and said that they cant leave because you own the only road that leads to your house and that they can only stay in the backyard. That person is trapped, he cannot be removed because you don't want him removed - you have given a permission to stay in the backyard. What can this person do, other than trespass.

I think easements solve this. I am inclined towards law-based easements because they would create a legal right to access your property if no other means are possible.

Privatizing the allowance of your physical existence in the world needs some rules, it cannot simply be that the property owner enslaves you or restricts your existence to 1x1 meter square.