The objective of this article is to examine the right to private property in the international and European legal orders and to explore the relevant case law of the International Court of Justice, the Court of the European Union, and the European Court of Human Rights. In so doing, the analysis will focus on whether the right is identified as an economic freedom or a human right by the different courts in the context of these legal orders. It will unpack the conceptual challenges that the variegated standards of protection present in formulating an understanding of the right to property from the perspective of a systems theoretical approach. In light of this, the article will seek to determine how property can be framed under conditions of functional differentiation in a multiplicity of operations in the economy, politics, and law, and to highlight its polyvalent nature. [---]