This article seeks to reclaim for property law and theory the centrality of two hitherto neglected questions: when does property matter and, to the extent that it does, precisely how. I argue that, in some cases, the property owner’s entitlement to exclude others has virtually nothing to do with the right to property; property, then, is epiphenomenal. At other times, an entitlement to exclude cannot exist independently of having a right to property. But even then – and this is where the second question concerning how property matters kicks in – there are important differences between excluding others for housekeeping purposes (say, ‘not now’) and denying access categorically (say, ‘not for you’). I therefore argue that the conventional identification of property with exclusion, or with exclusion and inclusion, obscures the difference that the right to property could, and should, make. Addressing the questions of when, and how, does property matter change the way we understand in theory and determine in practice what rights to exclude, and duties to include, do we have.

中文翻译：

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财产何时以及如何重要？

本文试图为财产法和理论恢复两个迄今为止被忽视的问题的中心地位：财产何时重要，以及在多大程度上重要，确切地说是如何重要。我认为，在某些情况下，财产所有人排除他人的权利实际上与财产权无关；那么，财产是附带现象的。在其他时候，排除权不能独立于财产权而存在。但即便如此——这是关于财产如何影响的第二个问题——在出于家务目的而排除他人（例如，“不是现在”）和断然拒绝访问（例如，“不适合你”）之间存在重要区别。因此，我认为，传统上将财产等同于排斥，或者排斥和包容，掩盖了财产权可以而且应该造成的差异。解决财产问题何时以及如何改变我们在理论上的理解方式以及在实践中确定我们拥有哪些权利和义务的问题。