A nation’s economic vitality and social well-being are intrinsically linked to the laws governing property in land. When these arrangements fail to reward productive effort, they become the primary, reversible cause of rural poverty and national economic underperformance. In such circumstances, the cultivator of the soil—the primary agent of agricultural production—finds their industry unrewarded and their prudence pointless. The result is not merely the impoverishment of a class, but the stagnation of the national economy and the erosion of the character of the people. This proposal presents the case for a fundamental reform of land tenure, grounded in the foundational economic and social principles of John Stuart Mill, not as an academic exercise, but as the necessary path to national prosperity.

The central thesis of this proposal is that the failure to guarantee a direct, unassailable link between a cultivator’s labor and their reward is the principal source of our agricultural stagnation. The solution, therefore, lies in ensuring security of tenure and the fruits of one’s industry. Mill provides a powerful lens through which to view this challenge by drawing a critical distinction between the immutable laws of Production and the malleable, human-designed laws of Distribution. While the laws of production “partake of the character of physical truths,” the distribution of wealth “is a matter of human institution solely… The rules by which it is determined are what the opinions and feelings of the ruling portion of the community make them… and might be still more different, if mankind so chose.” [II, I, 1] This distinction frames reform not merely as a possibility, but as a primary function of a just and effective government.

To that end, this document will first establish the foundational principles that justify reform, then analyze historical tenure systems as unassailable evidence of these principles in action, and finally propose a clear framework for government-led change.