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Land Use Law

Public use

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The Public-Use Question As A Takings Problem, Nicole Stelle Garnett Jan 2003

The Public-Use Question As A Takings Problem, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Journal Articles

Government officials regularly use the power of eminent domain to benefit private entities, and just as regularly justify their actions with post hoc assertions about the need to promote economic development. In Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Fifth Amendment demands broad deference to a government's decision to exercise the power of eminent domain. Midkiff makes clear that public use challenges are subject to rational basis review; so long as a taking can be justified by some conceivable public purpose, it will be upheld. Yet in recent years, a number of courts have put the …


The "Public Uses" Of Eminent Domain: History And Policy, Errol E. Meidinger Jan 1980

The "Public Uses" Of Eminent Domain: History And Policy, Errol E. Meidinger

Journal Articles

This paper examines the effects and implications of the ‘public use’ requirement for the exercise of eminent domain in the United States. It is part of an ongoing inquiry the consequences of eminent domain in the United States. The first part examines the history of the public use requirement, both how the doctrine has been articulated and logically extended and what purposes have been accomplished under it. The second part of the paper is an analytic critique of the public use doctrine. After considering whether any principled standard can be developed to delimit the proper uses of eminent domain, it …