What is the Lockean (John Locke) homesteading principle? In short, each person has a natural ownership in themselves, a property in themselves. You own your life. And when you mix a part of yourself – your time and energy – with a part of nature, then that part of nature becomes an extension of you – it becomes yours – your 'property'.

Defending/protecting other people or their property is a nice thing to do. But it does not follow that one then has ownership of those people or their property.

If I defend/protect you or your home from marauders, this does not mean I now own you or your property. While it’s true that I expend my labor in providing defense/protection of you or your property – me expending my time and energy into another’s person or property does not give me any ownership – they still own themselves and their property.

The Lockean homesteading principle is not to be applied to property – to that which is currently owned. It’s to be applied to nature – to that which is unowned or forsaken/abandoned.