Locke’s labor theory of value. In the 17th century, John Locke wrote his two treatises on government. In chapter five of the Second Treatise, he describes the labor theory by which property is created. Labor and labor alone removes from a state of nature and into man’s belonging the fruits of nature admixed with man’s labor and this is how come property exists. God gave the fruits of the Earth to man in common . But private property can arise out of common ownership. In a hunt, man may take a rabbit, or gather apples or acorns, and it is his labor in doing so that makes those resources his property. By mixing his labor with the fruits of nature, man has removed them from the state of nature and acquired a right to have them. Private property, however, is distinct from the things of nature from whence it was created; labor is a creative force and the ne plus ultra of private property. “As much as can be enjoyed, with enough and as ...