Document Type
Article
Abstract
What if the next constitutional crisis is not declared from a presidential podium but tyranny forged into a deed? Not a contested election. Not a rogue legislature. Not even a runaway court. This time, it is quieter—with a deed signed and title passed, a new sovereign is crowned in private ink. Across the country, billionaire land grabs are redrawing the map of municipal governance itself. As wealthy elites and corporate oligarchs carve out private enclaves—from the privatized contract city of Sandy Springs, Georgia, to the unsettling governance of The Woodlands, Texas—we bear witness to public sovereignty giving way to oligarchic rule. Slowly. Quietly. Deed by silent deed.
These private states are not simply gated communities policed by overzealous HOA boards. They are full-fledged jurisdictions ruled by those whose power derives not from public consent but from private wealth. Billionaires and corporate oligarchs impose their own rule of law—zoning, taxing, regulating, and even policing—without bearing the constitutional obligations and accountability that once constrained public power. Due process becomes optional, and equal protection descends to little more than a fluid formality. In these private states, ownership no longer secures liberty; it demands allegiance to oligarchic power. As billionaires and corporate elites advance their march against public governance, the judiciary and legislatures continue to turn a blind eye. The public function doctrine lies in tatters, and the nondelegation doctrine is but a whisper of days gone by. Courts and lawmakers, charmed by promises of “efficiency” and “innovation,” have willingly ceded traditional safeguards, allowing constitutional protections to decay under the weight of privatized rule. In the meantime, the American vision of common governance—once indivisible, public, and accountable—is being parceled out, one sovereign acre at a time.
The largest billionaire land grab since the Great Depression adds urgency to this conversation. The acquisition of entire towns and vast rural tracts by the likes of Elon Musk and Marc Cuban makes clear that private sovereignty is no longer a theoretical risk but a reality to be enjoyed by the highest bidder. Let us not be naïve—these projects are not mere anomalies of eccentric titans of industry; they are blueprints for a dystopian future where public governance retreats, constitutional obligations unravel, and democracy survives only beyond the gates of billionaire control.
This Article introduces the concept of deed-based sovereignty, defined here as privatized governance constructed not through elections or public charters, but through property law’s oldest devices—restrictive covenants, easements, and development agreements. Situating these micro-sovereignties within the longer arc of American land power—from feudal manors to company towns—this Article asks what happens when ownership, not citizenship, becomes the defining metric of lawful authority. It argues that legislatures and the judiciary must end the indulgence that wealthy elites and corporate oligarchs are merely private actors engaged in private conduct. Where private hands govern as the state, constitutional limits must follow. Reforging sovereignty in property law demands both a revival of the public function doctrine and a renewed commitment to enforcing nondelegation principles, actions that are necessary to prevent the covert transfer of public power beyond the reach of constitutional accountability. Only by restoring these safeguards can courts fulfill their duty to ensure the principles of public sovereignty—and the democratic principles anchored to it—are not surrendered to the silent ledgers of private deeds.
DOI
10.37419/JPL.V12.I1.2
First Page
45
Last Page
114
Recommended Citation
Match Dawson,
The Sovereign Acre,
12
Tex. A&M J. Prop. L.
45
(2025).
Available at:
https://doi.org/10.37419/JPL.V12.I1.2