Private property

"The distinguishing feature of communism is not the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property. But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few."

— Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, Proletarians and Communists

Private property refers to any object which is legally owned by a single private agent. Private property is distinct from other forms of property such as state property or common property.

Capitalism depends on the existence of private property norms, especially with regards to the ownership of capital. Private property also has existed, in distinct forms, in feudal and slave societies.