This paper addresses the question of what types of acts constitute, or are sufficient for homesteading, or initial appropriation from the state of the unowned; in other words, what "counts" as "sufficient" homesteading. In the tradition of Locke, Rothbard, Hoppe and Kinsella, it has long been argued that homesteading (or original appropriation) by decree does not suffice, and an intending actor who wants to homestead a previously unowned resource needs to create “an objective link” between himself and the resource by transforming it, or by starting to control it, according to its nature. In contrast to this concept, this paper argues that since ownership and property rights are not physical, but purely social concepts, they therefore have very little to do with physical control and physical transformation.  Initial appropriation represents a social act of communicating a property right claim, and should be examined as such, hence homesteading by verbal decree should suffice.

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