Even Locke’s theory of property rights is less an account of natural rights (in the meta-ethical sense), and more an abstraction of the norms that were being actively discovered by settlers on the North American frontier as best for determining the initial allocation of their endowment. Similar property norms have been discovered in frontier societies worldwide, from Brazil to Australia, in much the same way that many cultures rediscover the Golden Rule. It’s therefore no accident that Locke’s proviso for when property acquisition is legitimate bears substantial similarity to the criterion for a “Pareto improvement,” where at least one person is made better off and no one is made worse off. When a rule is discovered that, ex ante, advantages everyone, it tends to stick. - https://niskanencenter.org/blog/future-liberalism-politicization-everything/