Abstract: The western property right system has experienced a complex evolution process, always unfolding around the fundamental rights of property and people. The relationship between property right and right to exist, between property right and right of freedom, and between property right and right of personality constitutes the main line between property right and the basic rights of people, and sketches out a pedigree of theoretical results at different development stages. The western property right system is regarded as a part of the modern system, its evolution process and theoretical results provide a certain degree of enlightenment and reference for the reform of China’s rural property right system. The starting point of China’s rural property right system is seperating the contracted management right from the collective ownership of the land, making it become a right in rem. The key of the reform of property right system centering around circulation of the contracted management right has shifted from the principle of legality of right in rem, focusing on the separation of the contracted management right from operation, and on the economic function of achieving legal right in rem through the operating mode of rights.

Key words: property rights; contracted management right; property right system