In common usage, property means "one's own thing" and refers to the relationship between individuals and the objects which they see as being their own to dispense with as they see fit. Scholars in the social sciences frequently conceive of property as a bundle of rights. They stress that property is not a relationship between people and things, but a relationship between people with regard to things. Property is often conceptualized as the rights of 'ownership' as defined in law. Private property is that which belongs to an individual; public property is that which belongs to a community collectively or a State.
Outside of common usage the concept of 'property' or 'ownership' has no single or universally accepted definition. Various scholarly communities (e.g., law, economics, anthropology, sociology) may treat the concept more systematically, but their definitions likewise vary within and between fields.