Is property a flexible bundle of rights or a stable legal category? Since the late 1990s, prominent scholars have rejected the conventional wisdom that the bundle metaphor defines property. These “new essentialists” have sought to reclaim property as a distinct legal category with a definable core. Their academic project is now highly salient because the American Law Institute is engaged in a project of restating property law, directed by a leading new essentialist. This article takes stock of the new essentialists’ efforts to offer a new understanding of property. It distills the core elements of the new essentialist definition of property. Most importantly, it argues that this definition is highly malleable and not as distinct from the bundle picture as the new essentialists and their critics suppose.

中文翻译：

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财产新本质论

财产是灵活的权利捆绑还是稳定的法律类别？自1990年代后期以来，著名学者一直拒绝束缚隐喻定义财产的传统观念。这些“新的本质主义者”试图将财产作为具有明确核心的独特法律类别进行收回。他们的学术项目现在非常引人注目，因为美国法律学院正在从事一项由一位重要的新本质主义者领导的重新制定财产法的项目。本文总结了新的本质主义者为提供对财产的新理解所做的努力。它提炼了新的本质主义财产定义的核心要素。最重要的是，它认为这一定义具有很高的延展性，并且与新本质主义者及其批评者所认为的束缚图没有太大区别。