Also known as: powers of eminent domain · eminent domain
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 authority extends to both fee interests and lesser property rights such as easements and servitudes. Condemnation of a burdened estate extinguishes or modifies a servitude only to the extent the new public use is physically inconsistent with continued exercise of the servitude.
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Portia Price holds an easement across land owned by Pierre Poulin allowing underground utilities and access roads. The city condemns the servient parcel to build a public training campus whose design requires complete removal of the original corridors. The taking permits a use that physically precludes continued exercise of the easement in its historical form.
Pearl Porter owns coastal property and seeks a building permit. The commission conditions approval on Porter granting a public beach easement unrelated to any specific impact from her project. The condition attempts to obtain an interest that the government must instead acquire through eminent domain with compensation.
Paige Porter owns a grocery store in a blighted downtown area. The city condemns the parcel and transfers title to a private developer as part of a plan projected to create jobs and increase tax revenue. The taking satisfies the public-use requirement when just compensation is paid.
Priscilla Parks owns land taken by the city for a public street. The city pays only a nominal sum. The owner may recover the fair market value because the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the just-compensation requirement against the states.
Philip Powell owns steel mills seized by presidential order to avert a wartime shortage. The order lacks congressional authorization. The seizure exceeds the executive's constitutional power even when undertaken for a public purpose.
Prosperity Investments owns parcels subject to a multi-year development moratorium. The owners claim the delay constitutes a total taking of all economically beneficial use. The moratorium is a temporary regulatory measure rather than a permanent acquisition under eminent domain.
Yes when the transfer serves a legitimate public purpose such as economic redevelopment that increases jobs and tax revenue. The public-use requirement is satisfied so long as just compensation is paid. Courts treat such plans as valid public uses even when title ultimately passes to a private developer.
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The servitude is modified or terminated only to the extent the new public use permitted by the taking is physically inconsistent with continued exercise of the servitude. The purpose of the condemnation need not target the servitude itself. Alternative routes that preserve substantially equivalent use may prevent complete extinguishment.
…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…
…Co., supra , at 652 (dissenting opinion). The many statutes on the books, both state and federal, that provide for the use of eminent domain
…land needed for this project, the city’s development agent has purchased property from willing sellers and proposes to use the power of eminent domain
…to contribute to its realization. Rather, California is free to advance its "comprehensive program," if it wishes, by using its power of eminent domain
…grazing domestic animals "in common," and that "[i]n the memory of men now living, a proposition to take private property [by eminent domain
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Yes. Recording a perpetual recreational easement that grants broad public use and bars future development constitutes a taking. The owner is entitled to compensation measured by the value of the interest taken. The government may not avoid the compensation requirement by labeling the action a regulation rather than a condemnation.
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No. A moratorium that prohibits development for a defined period is treated as a temporary regulatory restriction rather than a permanent acquisition. The owner retains the future right to develop once the restriction lifts. Only a permanent deprivation of all economically beneficial use would require compensation under eminent domain principles.
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