The Tree That Owns Itself

An article on a tree that apparently owns itself.

“The Tree That Owns Itself is a white oak tree, widely assumed to have legal ownership of itself and of all land within eight feet (2.4 m) of its base.”

“The story of the Tree That Owns Itself is very widely known and is almost always presented as fact. However, only one person—the anonymous author of “Deeded to Itself”—has ever claimed to have seen Jackson’s deed to the tree. Most writers acknowledge that the deed is lost or no longer exists, if in fact it ever did. Such a deed, even if it did exist, would have no legal standing. Under common law, the person receiving the property in question must have the legal capacity to receive it, and the property must be delivered to—and accepted by—the recipient.”

Unless the tree has human action and human communicative rationality, or is technically superior to humans, I fail to see how it can own itself.

If the tree was an Ent on the other hand, I don’t think anyone would dispute it’s ownership.