Law Commons^™

Intangible Takings, Susan Eisenberg

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Constitution protects us from our own best intentions."' During times of grave emergency, the powers granted and reserved by the federal government remain unaltered in order to avoid shortsighted solutions that would, in the long run, be worse than the current crisis. Even a simple cure for appreciable suffering may have larger implications, and the rule of law does not know whether it is constraining good or aiding evil.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") imposed a shortsighted resolution that tested the boundaries of its authority. …

Naked Land Transfers And American Constitutional Development, Mark A. Graber

Vanderbilt Law Review

The constitutional prohibition on naked land transfers, laws granting to B property that belonged to A, played a far greater role in American constitutional development than is generally realized. The Marshall and Taney Courts heard numerous cases in which government officials were accused of expropriating private property, typically by legislative oversight rather than by deliberate intent. When resolving these cases, antebellum justices relied heavily on "certain great principles of justice" rather than on specific constitutional provisions. Supreme Court majorities on several occasions probably exercised the judicial power to declare federal laws unconstitutional. More frequently, Marshall and Taney Court decisions in …

The Private Use Of Public Power: The Private University And The Power Of Eminent Domain, Charles Fels Special Projects Editor, N. T. Adams, Richard Carmody, Margaret E. Clark, Randolph H. Lanier, James C. Smith, Robert M. White

Vanderbilt Law Review

The study which follows attempts to trace, in a necessarily limited fashion, the evolving use of eminent domain on behalf of private interest groups throughout the last century and a half of American legal history. Part One of the study traces the broadening scope of eminent domain in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on the direct use of eminent domain by private interest groups as a key element in the increasing breadth of the power. Part Two delineates the process whereby one modern private interest group-an informal aggregation of American colleges and universities-succeeded in acquiring …

Federal And State Condemnation Proceedings--Procedure And Statutory Background, William E. Miller

Vanderbilt Law Review

The development of our modern and complex society has necessitated a widespread appropriation of private property for public use. The vital importance of present-day eminent domain is emphasized by the staggering proportions of recent and proposed takings in terms of the amount of land appropriated, its monetary value, and the number of individual citizens whose property is affected. In the Middle District of Tennessee alone--of course a small part of the national total-in excess of 700 tracts or parcels of land have been condemned during the past seven and one-half years for various projects, including the Old Hickory Dam and …