Also known as: eminent domain powers · eminent domain · power of eminent domain · condemnation power
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A sovereign authority by which the government may acquire private property for public use upon payment of just compensation. The power reaches both fee interests and lesser estates such as servitudes, extinguishing or modifying a servitude on condemned land only to the extent the new public use is physically inconsistent with continued enjoyment of the servitude.
Empire Logistics owns a freight yard subject to an easement allowing Zenith Cargo to stage vehicles on a central corridor. The City of Norfolk condemns the yard in fee to build an exclusive rail hub whose design physically blocks all vehicle staging and fuel storage. The taking permits a use incompatible with the easement, so the servitude terminates to the extent of the inconsistency.
Emma Erickson owns beachfront property and seeks a permit to rebuild her home. The coastal commission grants the permit only if she conveys a public access easement across her lot. Because the demanded easement lacks an essential nexus to the specific impacts of the rebuild, the condition constitutes an unconstitutional taking of property.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Evelyn Ellison owns a home in a blighted neighborhood targeted by the City of New London for redevelopment into a mixed-use district expected to increase tax revenue and jobs. The city condemns her parcel and transfers it to a private developer as part of the plan. The taking satisfies the public-use requirement even though the ultimate user is private.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad owns a right-of-way that the City of Chicago condemns to widen a public street. The railroad receives compensation measured by the value of the interest taken. The eminent domain power applies to the railroad's property interest in the same manner as to any other fee owner.
Enzo Eastwood owns lakefront lots subject to a multi-year regional planning moratorium that prevents all construction while environmental studies proceed. The moratorium does not constitute a permanent taking because it merely delays development rather than eliminating all economically beneficial use of the land.
Youngstown Sheet & Tube operates steel mills the President seizes by executive order to avert a strike during wartime. The seizure exceeds the eminent domain power because Congress has not authorized the taking and no compensation mechanism has been provided by statute.
Condemnation of the servient estate modifies or terminates the easement only to the extent the new public use is physically inconsistent with continued enjoyment of the servitude. The easement survives where compatible uses remain possible after the taking.
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No. The condition must lack an essential nexus to the development's impacts or fail rough proportionality before it becomes an unconstitutional taking. A condition that directly mitigates project-generated burdens satisfies constitutional requirements.
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A regulation effects a categorical taking when it denies the owner all economically beneficial or productive use of the land, unless background principles of nuisance or property law already prohibited the use at the time of acquisition.
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…now must consider whether the interference with appellants’ property is of such a magnitude that “there must be an exercise of eminent domain and compensation to sustain [it].” Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon , 260 U. S., at 413. That inquiry may be narrowed to the question of the severity of the impact of the law on…