Also known as: jura quaesita · acquired right · vested right
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A right that has been fully acquired and vested in the holder by prior lawful conduct or reliance. The right is protected against subsequent governmental action that would impair it without due process or compensation.
Imperial Buildings operated a forty-year-old mobile home park that became nonconforming after rezoning. The company had spent over eight hundred thousand dollars on upgrades under a valid permit before the city revoked the permit and imposed a ten-year amortization period. Because the expenditures created a vested right, the court held that the city could not immediately terminate the use without further individualized review of reasonableness.
Jillian James obtained a valid building permit under existing zoning and spent substantial sums constructing the foundation and utilities for a new warehouse. When the city later rezoned the area and attempted to revoke the permit, the court recognized her vested right because the good-faith expenditures made deprivation of the right inequitable.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
After a car accident in Wisconsin, the plaintiff sought to apply Wisconsin law to a family immunity issue. The court recognized that the parties' rights under the law of the place of the wrong had become vested at the time of the accident and therefore controlled the outcome despite later changes in residence.
A state legislature attempted to reopen a probate decree that had already become final. The court held that the decree created a vested right in the successful party that the legislature could not divest through retroactive legislation.
A state college professor claimed a property interest in continued employment after receiving tenure under university rules. The court determined that the rules had created a vested right that could not be terminated without due process.
After a district court entered final judgment dismissing a securities claim, Congress enacted a statute purporting to revive the dismissed action. The court held that the final judgment had created a vested right in the defendant that Congress could not retroactively alter.
A landowner acquires a jus quaesitum by establishing a lawful use before a later zoning change renders it nonconforming. The right protects continuation of the use unless lost through abandonment or a reasonable amortization period.
Supporting sources
Substantial good-faith expenditures made in reliance on a valid permit or existing zoning create a jus quaesitum. Jurisdictions differ on whether substantial completion or a balancing test is required.
Supporting sources
Yes, in some jurisdictions a reasonable amortization ordinance can require termination of a nonconforming use after a defined period. Reasonableness turns on the nature of the use, the owner's investment, and the time allowed.
Supporting sources
…particular uses without paying compensation, notwithstanding the economic impact, under the rationale that no one can obtain a vested right to injure or endanger the public. In the Coates cases, for example, the Supreme Court of New York found no taking in New York's ban on the interment of the dead within the city, although…