The contemporary fee simple title is a leasehold in practice, and the American state serves as a landlord as in feudal England. While the American theory of property is presented as a radical departure from feudal relations, with the concept of “individual sovereignty” coloring how we discuss property rights and government action, on closer inspection we find a remarkable continuity in the functional relationship between individuals, property, and the state.
The property regime in the modern administrative state can be modeled as layers of public and private leaseholds that govern a set of relations, more than they do the boundaries of ownership; consequently, the American property regime has evolved to look like the medieval English tenurial system, rather than a confederation of sovereign allodial titles as had been envisioned by the founders.
What has emerged is the Leasehold World, one where the fee simple is a public leasehold, all citizens are tenants, and the jurisdiction of public law usurped any sovereignty that we may have associated with property ownership.
Currently being drafted.