The resources of nature may be valued for either for their potential uses in production, as in the case of fossil fuels, or else for consumption uses such as aesthetic and contemplative enjoyment, as in the case of a magnificent forest. In either case, these resources must be economized. In a free-market society, economization is ensured by means of property rights. Here we shall not delve into the fine details of implementing property rights, but seek only to understand in general terms how they apply to environmental situations. Let us first consider two examples involving environmental pollution:

In the free market, air pollution affecting the lives or property of involuntary victims constitutes an invasion of property rights and is therefore a prohibited action, prosecutable in a free society. In this context it should be remembered that an individual's body is a fundamental part of his or her property (p. 4.5:13).
A factory owner whose pollution robs a fishery owner downstream of clean water has thereby trespassed against the latter's property and is therefore subject to legal action.

In a free market, no special legislation need be enacted in these instances in order to preserve the environment against would-be polluters, because their actions are already prosecutable violations of the property rights of others. In our present society, in contrast, property rights are treated as subordinate to the undefinable notion of "public interest." Consequently, the courts have frequently ruled in favor of the polluting aggressor, said to represent a "more compelling public interest."

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