Property in Chile and its dilemmas

Abstract

This paper postulates as a hypothesis that private property at a constitutional level in Chile does not have a single concept, but the form of dilemmas and a multiform character. For confirming or refuting said hypothesis, the method of legal science is applied to the normative material associated to custom, doctrine and case law as sources of Chilean Consti-tutional Law, separating the dilemmas of Chilean property present in the registers of the local, self–convened assemblies of citizens, the doctrine of the jurists of Constitutional Law and the case law of the Chilean Constitutional Court. As a conclusion, the hypothesis is confirmed, ascertaining that the ideas of Chilean citi-zens add new elements to private property at a constitutional level in Chile, such as the links between this right and the right to housing, a right to guarantee a mini-mum level of property to all people and the protection of some forms of indige-nous property. Additionally, a conclusion is reached regarding the very pronounced discrepancies existing between doctrine and case law concerning private property at a constitutional level in Chile.