Abstract The article explores the different ways in which the relationship between law and development has been thought of by policy makers and academics in Colombia. It proposes that there are two prevalent ways of understanding this relationship, either interpreting law as marginal to the economic development endeavor or central to trigger it. Furthermore, it argues that these two prevalent interpretations have underestimated the complex ways in which law functions. In order to illustrate the complexity of the interaction between law and development, the article then presents the different ways in which property is legally defined in the Colombian context. These definitions range from the classical liberal included in the Civil Code to the Social and Ecological function enshrined in the Constitution.