Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Fifth amendment (8)
- Takings (8)
- Land use (7)
- Coastal (5)
- Ocean (5)
-
- Property (5)
- Regulatory takings (5)
- Intertidal zone (4)
- Property rights (4)
- Public trust doctrine (4)
- Constitutional law (3)
- Easement (3)
- Maine (3)
- Takings clause (3)
- Beaches (2)
- Bell v. town of wells (2)
- Colonial ordinance (2)
- Comprehensive planning and land use regulation act (2)
- Conservation (2)
- Eminent domain (2)
- Fishing (2)
- Food access (2)
- Fowling (2)
- High water mark (2)
- Jus publicum (2)
- Land trust (2)
- Law court (2)
- Maine supreme judicial court (2)
- Marine environment (2)
- Navigation (2)
Articles 1 - 30 of 42
Full-Text Articles in Law
Fee Shifting: A Proposal To Solve Maine’S Intractable Access To Justice Problem, Donald F. Fontaine
Fee Shifting: A Proposal To Solve Maine’S Intractable Access To Justice Problem, Donald F. Fontaine
Maine Law Review
The Maine Legislature should enact a new statute to award attorney’s fees in civil cases to poor litigants against their opponents. Under the proposed statute the opponent must be a corporation or other legal entity and the poor litigant must be the prevailing party in the case. The statute proposed is needed because multiple studies show that there has been an unrelenting decline during the last four decades of the poor’s access to justice. Their numbers increase and the support of the federal government declines. For those who find themselves in legal positions opposing the poor, there is little deterrent …
Taking It Too Far: Growth Management And The Limits To Land-Use Regulation In Maine, Michael A. Duddy
Taking It Too Far: Growth Management And The Limits To Land-Use Regulation In Maine, Michael A. Duddy
Maine Law Review
In 1989 Maine enacted the Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act. The Act's legislative findings declared that “ the State has a vital interest in ensuring that a comprehensive system of land-use planning and growth management is established as quickly as possible.” However, whenever the state exercises its police power to regulate private land use, it faces a constitutional limit as to how far it can go. When the land-use restriction exceeds that limit, a regulatory taking occurs. This Comment argues that the Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act, as it is being interpreted and implemented by state …
Taking It Too Far: Growth Management And The Limits To Land-Use Regulation In Maine, Michael A. Duddy
Taking It Too Far: Growth Management And The Limits To Land-Use Regulation In Maine, Michael A. Duddy
Maine Law Review
In 1989 Maine enacted the Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act. The Act's legislative findings declared that “ the State has a vital interest in ensuring that a comprehensive system of land-use planning and growth management is established as quickly as possible.” However, whenever the state exercises its police power to regulate private land use, it faces a constitutional limit as to how far it can go. When the land-use restriction exceeds that limit, a regulatory taking occurs. This Comment argues that the Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act, as it is being interpreted and implemented by state …
The Short-Term Rental Economy In Rural Maine Communities: An Opportunity For Economic Growth Instead Of A Target For Regulation, Nicholas E. Anania
The Short-Term Rental Economy In Rural Maine Communities: An Opportunity For Economic Growth Instead Of A Target For Regulation, Nicholas E. Anania
Maine Law Review
State and local governments across the country are grappling with the rise of short-term housing rentals and how to enact effective regulation regarding their use. The increase of short-term rentals (STRs) is almost entirely the result of online platforms that make STRs easy, efficient, and accessible. While STRs undoubtedly have positive economic outcomes for both property owners and local economies, there are also many negative repercussions which must be effectively regulated. Regulation in this area reflects differing priorities and viewpoints of states and municipalities. Specifically, rural Maine municipalities, many of which are popular seasonal destinations, face not only the challenges …
Are Marine National Monuments "Situated On Lands Owned Or Controlled By The Government Of The United States?", Tyler C. Costello
Are Marine National Monuments "Situated On Lands Owned Or Controlled By The Government Of The United States?", Tyler C. Costello
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
The ocean offers what may seem like endless supply of natural resources, ecosystem services, or for some, simple enjoyment. Yet, in the face of climate change and overexploitation, many of these unique ecosystems and their inhabitants face an uphill battle. A president's use of the Antiquities Act establishing a national monument is an efficient and effective method of protecting these diverse ecosystems, as long as the area to be protected satisfies one of the Act's limitations that the monument be "situated on land owned or controlled by the federal government." Prior to a 2017 lawsuit concerning President Obama's use of …
Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten
Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
In Maine, the intertidal zone has seen many disputes over its use, access, and property rights. Recently, in Ross v. Acadian Seaplants, Ltd., the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that rockweed seaweed in the intertidal zone is owned by the upland landowner and is not part of a public easement under the public trust doctrine. The Court held harvesting rockweed is not fishing. This case will impact private and public rights and also the balance between the State's environmental and economic interests. This Comment addresses the following points: first, the characteristics of rockweed and the …
The Role Of State Planning Law In The Regulation And Protection Of Ocean Resources, Edward J. Sullivan
The Role Of State Planning Law In The Regulation And Protection Of Ocean Resources, Edward J. Sullivan
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
While land use planning is pervasive in the United States, legal structures for the planning and management of ocean resources are less well known or studied. The passage of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act in 1972 provided federal funds for state planning and regulation of coastal areas, with the incentive of binding federal agencies to state and regulations plans certified by the Secretary of Commerce. Most of the focus of CZMA study has been on estuaries and coastal shorelands; much less focus has been on coastal waters. Regarding coastal waters, more attention is given to the three mile ocean …
Avoiding Maladaptations To Flooding And Erosion: A Case Study Of Alaska Native Villages, Elizaveta Barrett Ristroph
Avoiding Maladaptations To Flooding And Erosion: A Case Study Of Alaska Native Villages, Elizaveta Barrett Ristroph
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
This article offers perspective on how Alaska Native Villages (ANVs), which are small and rural indigenous communities, are adapting to changes in flooding and erosion. It considers which adaptations might be maladaptations and what might be done to facilitate adaptation short of relocating entire communities. It outlines the United States' legal framework applicable to flooding and erosion and considers why this framework may do little to assist ANVs and similarly situated small and rural communities. Findings regarding adaptation strategies and obstacles are drawn from my Ph.D. research, which involved a review of plans for fifty nine ANVs and 153 interviews …
Conserving A Vision: Acadia, Katahdin, And The Pathway From Private Lands To Park Lands, Sean Flaherty, Anthony L. Moffa
Conserving A Vision: Acadia, Katahdin, And The Pathway From Private Lands To Park Lands, Sean Flaherty, Anthony L. Moffa
Maine Law Review
Although a century separates the official designations, the strategies required to ensure federal protection of Maine’s two National Park Service areas—Acadia National Park and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument—closely track one another. In both cases, a handful of enterprising conservationists shared the vision for conservation. Both areas depended on the private acquisition, and donation, of title to the numerous parcels that comprised them before the land could garner federal protection. Politics in the early 20th and 21st centuries had to be overcome. This work tells the stories in parallel, highlighting and analyzing four strands of similarity to not only …
Book Review: An Examination Of Maine's Public Beach Access, Ariel A. Hampton
Book Review: An Examination Of Maine's Public Beach Access, Ariel A. Hampton
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
Many people assume that access rights to public resources are unwavering. Two Maine Supreme Judicial Court cases concerning limitations to public access to Maine beaches rebut this assumption. In his book, Maine's Beaches Are Public Property: The Bell Cases Must Be Reexamined, Professor Orlando E. Delogu challenges the modifications to public beach access that resulted from these two cases. This Review focuses on the historical and legal arguments that Professor Delogu presents as justification for the reversal of the Bell cases. Professor Delogu gives compelling reasons for his take on the Bell cases and why the State of Maine should …
An Argument To The State Of Maine, The Town Of Wells, And Other Maine Towns Similarly Situated: Buy The Foreshore - Now, Orlando E. Delogu
An Argument To The State Of Maine, The Town Of Wells, And Other Maine Towns Similarly Situated: Buy The Foreshore - Now, Orlando E. Delogu
Maine Law Review
This paper has its roots in the finality of what have come to be called the Moody Beach decisions. In the last of these two cases, Maine's Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that the public's right to use the intertidal zone was limited to those uses and activities spelled out in the Colonial Ordinance of 16411647: “We agree with the Superior Court's declaration of the state of the legal title to Moody Beach. Long and firmly established rules of property law dictate that the plaintiff oceanfront owners at Moody Beach hold title in fee to the …
Maine Principles Of Ownership Along Water Bodies, Knud E. Hermansen, Donald R. Richards
Maine Principles Of Ownership Along Water Bodies, Knud E. Hermansen, Donald R. Richards
Maine Law Review
This Article provides a summary of the Maine common law of riparian boundaries. It is geared toward practitioners who practice or provide counsel in the area of real property law or who must litigate boundaries and title rights involving water bodies. This Article also includes recommendations for fixing previously undefined boundaries across water. However, readers should be aware that this Article does not attempt to provide an exhaustive survey of all riparian law. In recent years state and federal legislation has further limited or restricted specific landowner common law rights along water bodies.
Florida Rock Industries, Inc. V. United States: Tipping The Scales In Favor Of Private Property Rights At The Public's Expense, Susan E. Spokes University Of Maine School Of Law
Florida Rock Industries, Inc. V. United States: Tipping The Scales In Favor Of Private Property Rights At The Public's Expense, Susan E. Spokes University Of Maine School Of Law
Maine Law Review
In Florida Rock Industries, Inc. v. United States the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the denial of a federal wetlands permit under section 1344 of the Clean Water Act may constitute a compensable taking of private property under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court remanded the case to the Federal Court of Claims to determine the value of the property remaining after the permit denial, while warning the trial court that the existing record did not support a finding of the loss of all economically viable use of the property. The Federal …
Ed Godfrey: The Justice, The Person, And Some Cases On Property, Merle W. Loper
Ed Godfrey: The Justice, The Person, And Some Cases On Property, Merle W. Loper
Maine Law Review
At the end of 1994 Dean Edward S. Godfrey III stepped down from his teaching position as Professor Emeritus of the University of Maine School of Law. In honor of his service to Maine’s only law school, to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, to the Maine Bar, and to the people of the State of Maine, the Board and Staff dedicate Volume 47 of the Maine Law Review to Dean Edward Godfrey. Reviews by Maine Law School faculty members of Dean Godfrey’s Law Court decisions in several areas of the law follow.
The Long-Standing Requirement That Delegations Of Land Use Control Power Contain "Meaningful" Standards To Restrain And Guide Decision-Makers Should Not Be Weakened, Orlando E. Delogu, Susan E. Spokes
The Long-Standing Requirement That Delegations Of Land Use Control Power Contain "Meaningful" Standards To Restrain And Guide Decision-Makers Should Not Be Weakened, Orlando E. Delogu, Susan E. Spokes
Maine Law Review
Some forty years ago, a leading land use scholar noted that “it has always been recognized that it is an essential part of the judicial function to watch over the parochial and exclusionist attitudes and policies of local governments, and to see to it that these do not run counter to national policy and the general welfare.” Maine courts by and large have discharged this judicial function by consistently striking down unauthorized and overreaching local governmental land use decisions. Several recent cases, however, cast doubt on the Law Court's continuing commitment to guard against the parochial instincts of local land …
Maine Roads And Easements, Knud E. Hermansen, Donald R. Richards
Maine Roads And Easements, Knud E. Hermansen, Donald R. Richards
Maine Law Review
Black's Law Dictionary defines an easement as a right of use over the property of another. An easement is a right in the owner of one parcel of land, by reason of such ownership, to use the land of another for a special purpose not inconsistent with a general property right in the owner. It is an interest that one person has in the land of another. A primary characteristic of an easement, that its burden falls upon the possessor of the land from which it issued, is expressed in the statement that the land constitutes a servient estate or …
Long V. Long: Law Court Ruling Changes The Disposition Of Joint Real Property On Divorce, Marc J. Veilleux
Long V. Long: Law Court Ruling Changes The Disposition Of Joint Real Property On Divorce, Marc J. Veilleux
Maine Law Review
In Long v. Long the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, affirmed a district court divorce decree dividing the parties' residence of thirteen years as marital property, even though the majority of the funds used for its purchase were traceable to non-marital property the husband had acquired prior to the marriage. The governing statute instructed the district court to make an “equitable” disposition of all property acquired by the spouses during marriage, but required that it first “set apart to each spouse the spouse's [separate] property,” including property acquired during marriage by a spouse “in exchange for …
O'Donovan V. Mcintosh: Changing The Contours Of Maine's Easement Law, Michael J. Polak
O'Donovan V. Mcintosh: Changing The Contours Of Maine's Easement Law, Michael J. Polak
Maine Law Review
In O'Donovan v. McIntosh, a real estate developer, Timothy O'Donovan, brought an action seeking, in part, a declaratory judgment concerning the transferability of an easement that he purchased from the defendant, John A. McIntosh, Jr. O'Donovan and McIntosh subsequently filed a joint motion for partial summary judgment to obtain a ruling that would affirm the assignability of the easement in question. Susan Huggins, the owner of the servient estate upon which the easement in question imposed, objected to this motion as a third party defendant. She filed a cross-motion for summary judgment maintaining that the easement in question was not …
The Law Of Taking Elsewhere And, One Suspects, In Maine, Orlando E. Delogu
The Law Of Taking Elsewhere And, One Suspects, In Maine, Orlando E. Delogu
Maine Law Review
The debate as to the meaning of the Taking Clause in the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution seems unending. This short, almost cryptic constitutional provision, “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation,” has over the years given rise to both court challenges and philosophic debate aimed at parsing out the meaning and parameters of this language. As the need for regulatory controls (imposed by every level of government) has increased, the number of challenges and the stridency of the debate has also increased. Moreover, these challenges have increasingly found their way to the …
When Should Rights "Trump"? An Examination Of Speech And Property, Laura S. Underkuffler
When Should Rights "Trump"? An Examination Of Speech And Property, Laura S. Underkuffler
Maine Law Review
In his well-known article, Property, Speech, and the Politics of Distrust, Professor Richard Epstein—a leading contemporary voice in the fields of property theory and constitutional law—makes a simple but compelling argument. There has been, he argues, a mistake in “the dominant mode of thinking about property rights during the past fifty years [that] has been ... of constitutional dimensions.” This mistake, in Professor Epstein's view, is the refusal of the federal courts to accord to individual property rights the same kind of protection from government regulation that is accorded to other constitutional rights. Using free speech as his example, Professor …
Life In No Trump: Property And Speech Under The Constitution, Richard A. Esptein
Life In No Trump: Property And Speech Under The Constitution, Richard A. Esptein
Maine Law Review
The editors of the Maine Law Review have been kind enough to offer me the opportunity to respond to Laura Underkuffler's criticism of my work in her recent Godfrey Lecture, “When Should Rights ‘Trump’? An Examination of Speech and Property,” which appears in the preceding issue. In my earlier writings on constitutional law, more specifically, in my paper, Property, Speech and the Politics of Distrust, I took the position that modern Supreme Court jurisprudence had taken a turn for the worse insofar as it used different standards of review in passing on the constitutionality of legislation. The current position, roughly …
Tax Increment Financing In Maine, Michael G. Walker
Tax Increment Financing In Maine, Michael G. Walker
Maine Law Review
Tax Increment Financing ("TIF") is a statutorily authorized mechanism which enables municipalities to earmark the property tax revenue from designated areas to pay for things such as infrastructure improvement. Lately, Maine municipalities have been using TIF to refund tax revenues directly to private developers in an effort to attract new business. This Comment will begin by briefly explaining the development of TIF in the United States and how it has evolved over time. It will then summarize how TIF works in Maine and the criticism and praise it has received throughout its existence. Next, it will look at research examining …
No Need For Cities To Despair After Bank Of America Corporation V. City Of Miami: How Patent Law Can Assist In Proving Predatory Loans Directly Cause Municipal Blight Under The Fair Housing Act, Jesse D.H. Snyder
Maine Law Review
Lack of sanguinity for cities was manifest after the Supreme Court’s May 1, 2017, opinion in Bank of America Corporation v. City of Miami. Although Bank of America recognized that cities have Article III standing to sue for economic injuries suffered from predatory lending, the Supreme Court rejected the Eleventh Circuit’s more lenient causation standard, favoring proof of “some direct relation between the injury asserted and the injurious conduct alleged.” Doubtless the result could have been worse for cities suing on the premise that racially discriminatory lending caused municipal blight. The courthouse doors could have closed if the Court had …
Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. V. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency: The Reemergence Of Penn Central And A Healthy Reluctance To Craft Per Se Regulatory Takings Rules, Philip R. Saucier
Maine Law Review
In Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the Supreme Court held that a moratorium on development imposed during the process of devising a comprehensive land use plan did not constitute a per se taking of property requiring compensation under the Takings Clause of the United States Constitution. The scope of Tahoe-Sierra, and thus its ultimate impact on Supreme Court takings jurisprudence, had been severely narrowed and redefined by the courts since the landowners first alleged a taking over fifteen years before the issue was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. It is important to note that this …
Property Tax: A Primer And A Modest Proposal For Maine, Clifford H. Goodall, Seth A. Goodall
Property Tax: A Primer And A Modest Proposal For Maine, Clifford H. Goodall, Seth A. Goodall
Maine Law Review
Property taxation has been viewed for years as the perfect “dragon to be slain” and by most “as both bad and doomed.” In spite of being one of the most commonly questioned and scrutinized issues by voters and politicians, property taxation survives as the primary revenue source for local governments. Maine's experience is an example of this continuing debate. The 2005 reform attempt by the Legislature known as LD 1 is the most recent example. Municipal over-dependence on the property tax, rising property values, unfunded state mandates, loss of federal revenues, and increased spending has significantly increased the percentage of …
Some Model Amendments To Maine (And Other States') Land Use Control Legislation, Orlando E. Delogu, Sam Merrill, Philip R. Saucier
Some Model Amendments To Maine (And Other States') Land Use Control Legislation, Orlando E. Delogu, Sam Merrill, Philip R. Saucier
Maine Law Review
This model legislation consisting of ten separate provisions is intended to clarify and/or expand existing Maine law dealing with planning and land use regulation. It expands existing statutes by addressing a number of issues not presently covered by law. The overarching purpose of the proposed legislation is to underscore that planning and the imposition of land use regulations is not exclusively the responsibility of local governments but instead is a shared duty of the state and local governments. This is clearly stated in the text and commentary of Provision I, and is a theme that pervades all ten legislative proposals. …
Will Bell V. Town Of Wells Be Eroded With Time?, Sidney St. F. Thaxter
Will Bell V. Town Of Wells Be Eroded With Time?, Sidney St. F. Thaxter
Maine Law Review
In 1989, the Maine Law Court issued a landmark decision regarding the ownership of the land between the mean high-water mark and the mean low-water mark (the intertidal zone) in a case entitled Bell v. Town of Wells.1 This decision was controlled, in part, by the 1986 decision in the same case. Bell I was decided following an appeal by the plaintiff-landowners from the lower court decision dismissing Counts I and II of their Complaint as “barred by sovereign immunity.” The lower court found that “the State has an interest in Moody Beach and in that sense it has title,” …
Protecting The Public Benefit: Crafting Precedent For Citizen Enforcement Of Conservation Easements, Sean P. Ociepka
Protecting The Public Benefit: Crafting Precedent For Citizen Enforcement Of Conservation Easements, Sean P. Ociepka
Maine Law Review
In fiscal year 2004, Wal-Mart added 139 new discount stores, supercenters, and “neighborhood markets” to its already significant chain of stores across the United States. Wal-Mart developers submit their proposals to governing town bodies all over the country with the promise that the $20 million construction of a 200,000 square foot store will create 500 new jobs for the local economy, will have a payroll of over $12 million, will increase the tax base of the area, and will provide convenient, affordable shopping for consumers. For these reasons, the big box stores are a hard offer for town planners to …
Kelo V. City Of New London-Wrongly Decided And A Missed Opportunity For Principled Line Drawing With Respect To Eminent Domain Takings, Orlando E. Delogu
Kelo V. City Of New London-Wrongly Decided And A Missed Opportunity For Principled Line Drawing With Respect To Eminent Domain Takings, Orlando E. Delogu
Maine Law Review
No eminent domain taking case in the last twenty-five years has excited the level of interest, attention, and debate as has Kelo v. City of New London. The Supreme Court’s decision has not quelled that debate. If anything the stridency, the emotional tenor, of the debate has increased. And in the few months since the decision came down, several dozen states (in the absence of any meaningful federal limitation on what constitutes “public use”) have proposed statutes or constitutional amendments that would limit their exercise of eminent domain (taking) powers. There is even talk of federal legislation to temper, to …
A Proposal For Establishing Specialized Federal And State "Takings Courts", John Martinez
A Proposal For Establishing Specialized Federal And State "Takings Courts", John Martinez
Maine Law Review
Takings doctrine is a mess. Let's just accept that and establish specialized federal and state "takings courts" to adjudicate takings claims. Takings claims arise when governmental conduct is alleged to detrimentally affect private property. Adjudication of takings claims may initially seem straightforward: the Fifth Amendment's Just Compensation Clause, as well as analogous state constitutional provisions, plainly provide that the government shall not take private property for public use without just compensation. In 1978, the United States Supreme Court confessed that takings analysis is hopelessly ad hoc. Decades later, in 2005, the Court abrogated a test for takings that it had …