Hegel's analysis of property and contract is rooted in natural law rather than economic or positive legal frameworks.

He sees property as a manifestation of personal freedom, where property is not just a historical happenstance but a necessary form for realizing individual selfhood.

The person, in Hegel's view, is an abstract entity in opposition to nature, seeking to overcome the contradiction between subjective will and objective reality. By taking possession of objects, a person affirms his selfhood in a tangible way, moving from pure subjectivity to objective existence.

Property is the initial objectification of freedom, characterized by immediacy and distinct from the person.

Cultural goods, unlike natural objects, are products of human will and labor, becoming property through the mind's activity.

Property is the first expression of selfhood, negating the selfhood of things and demonstrating their relativity to the will. property is not an expression of human needs and not just about utility but about giving oneself an objective existence.

The transition from property to contract involves this mediation of the will with objects, both natural and cultural.