Eminent Domain Lawyer
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Eminent domain (US) in common law legal systems is the power of the state to appropriate private property for its own use without the owner's consent. The term eminent domain is used primarily in the United States, where the term was derived in the mid-19th Century from a legal treatise written by the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius in 1625. The term compulsory purchase, also originating in the mid-19th Century, is used primarily in England and Wales, and other jurisdictions that follow the principles of English law. Originally, the power of eminent domain was assumed to arise from natural law as an inherent power of the sovereign.
Governments most commonly use the power of eminent domain when the acquisition of real property is necessary for the completion of a public project such as a road, and the owner of the required property is unwilling to negotiate a price for its sale. In many jurisdictions the power of eminent domain is tempered with a right that just compensation be made for the appropriation.
Some coined the term expropriation to refer to "appropriation" under eminent domain law, and may especially be used with regard to cases where no compensation is made for the confiscated property. Examples include the 1960 Cuban expropriation of property held by U.S. citizens, following a breakdown in economic and diplomatic relations between the Eisenhower Administration and the Cuban government under Fidel Castro.
The term "condemnation" is used to describe the act of a government exercising its authority of eminent domain. It is not to be confused with the term of the same name that describes the legal process whereby real property, generally a building, is deemed legally unfit for habitation due to its physical defects. Condemnation via eminent domain indicates the government is taking the property; usually, the only thing that remains to be decided is the amount of just compensation. Condemnation of buildings on grounds of health and safety hazards or gross zoning violation usually does not deprive the owner of the property condemned but requires the owner to rectify the offending situation.
The exercise of eminent domain is not limited merely to real property. Governments may also condemn the value in a contract such as a franchise agreement (which is why many franchise agreements will stipulate that in condemnation proceedings, the franchise itself has no value).
In the United States, the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution requires that just compensation be paid when the power of eminent domain is used, and requires that "public use" of the property be demonstrated. Most courts have interpreted "just compensation" to be the fair market value of the condemned property. Over the years the definition of "public use" has expanded to include economic development plans which use eminent domain seizures to enable commercial development for the purpose of generating more tax revenue for the local government. [1] Critics contend this perverts the intent of eminent domain law and tramples personal property rights.
In 1981, in Michigan, the Michigan Supreme Court, building on the precedent set by Berman v. Parker, 348 U.S. 26 (1954) [2], permitted the neighborhood of Poletown to be taken in order to build a General Motors plant. Courts in other states relied on this decision, which was overturned in 2004 [3], as precedent. This expansion of the definition was argued before the United States Supreme Court in February 2005 [4], in Kelo v. New London [5]. In June 2005, the Supreme Court issued their decision in favor of New London, in a narrow 5-4 ruling—a decision that gives local governments wide latitude to decide when a seizure is for "public purposes", including economic development. The court hinted, however, that states could pass laws limiting the purposes for which eminent domain could be used. The controversial ruling sparked a backlash among citizens, and several states either have or are in the process of passing laws limiting eminent domain to either traditional uses (roads and public buildings) or to eliminate blight.
In other cases eminent domain has been used by communities to take control of planning and development. Such is the case of the Dudley Street Initiative [6], a community group in Boston which attained the right to eminent domain and have used it to reclaim vacant properties in the purpose of positive community development. (this article compliments of Wikipedia)
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