Author: Daniel F. Hinkel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Eminent domain
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Author: Ilya Somin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022625674X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the city of New London, Connecticut, could condemn fifteen residential properties in order to transfer them to a new private owner. Although the Fifth Amendment only permits the taking of private property for “public use,” the Court ruled that the transfer of condemned land to private parties for “economic development” is permitted by the Constitution—even if the government cannot prove that the expected development will ever actually happen. The Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London empowered the grasping hand of the state at the expense of the invisible hand of the market. In this detailed study of one of the most controversial Supreme Court cases in modern times, Ilya Somin argues that Kelo was a grave error. Economic development and “blight” condemnations are unconstitutional under both originalist and most “living constitution” theories of legal interpretation. They also victimize the poor and the politically weak for the benefit of powerful interest groups and often destroy more economic value than they create. Kelo itself exemplifies these patterns. The residents targeted for condemnation lacked the influence needed to combat the formidable government and corporate interests arrayed against them. Moreover, the city’s poorly conceived development plan ultimately failed: the condemned land lies empty to this day, occupied only by feral cats. The Supreme Court’s unpopular ruling triggered an unprecedented political reaction, with forty-five states passing new laws intended to limit the use of eminent domain. But many of the new laws impose few or no genuine constraints on takings. The Kelo backlash led to significant progress, but not nearly as much as it may have seemed. Despite its outcome, the closely divided 5-4 ruling shattered what many believed to be a consensus that virtually any condemnation qualifies as a public use under the Fifth Amendment. It also showed that there is widespread public opposition to eminent domain abuse. With controversy over takings sure to continue, The Grasping Hand offers the first book-length analysis of Kelo by a legal scholar, alongside a broader history of the dispute over public use and eminent domain and an evaluation of options for reform.

Author: Julius L. Sackman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Eminent domain
Languages : en
Pages : 1084

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Author: Danil F. Hinkel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Land use
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Cynthia Fraser
Publisher: American Bar Association
ISBN: 9781614380986
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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While eminent domain traditionally was used to acquire property for roads, waterways, defense installations, government and public buildings, and the interstate highway system, it has recently been a favored tool in developing urban areas, creating shopping malls, and building big-box retail stores. This is a practical guide for lawyers applying modern land-use doctrine in takings cases.

Author: Richard R. Hammar
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780882435800
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Author: Alan T. Ackerman
Publisher: American Bar Association
ISBN: 9781590317020
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Author: Richard A. Epstein
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674036557
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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If legal scholar Richard Epstein is right, then the New Deal is wrong, if not unconstitutional. Epstein reaches this sweeping conclusion after making a detailed analysis of the eminent domain, or takings, clause of the Constitution, which states that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. In contrast to the other guarantees in the Bill of Rights, the eminent domain clause has been interpreted narrowly. It has been invoked to force the government to compensate a citizen when his land is taken to build a post office, but not when its value is diminished by a comprehensive zoning ordinance. Epstein argues that this narrow interpretation is inconsistent with the language of the takings clause and the political theory that animates it. He develops a coherent normative theory that permits us to distinguish between permissible takings for public use and impermissible ones. He then examines a wide range of government regulations and taxes under a single comprehensive theory. He asks four questions: What constitutes a taking of private property? When is that taking justified without compensation under the police power? When is a taking for public use? And when is a taking compensated, in cash or in kind? Zoning, rent control, progressive and special taxes, workers’ compensation, and bankruptcy are only a few of the programs analyzed within this framework. Epstein’s theory casts doubt upon the established view today that the redistribution of wealth is a proper function of government. Throughout the book he uses recent developments in law and economics and the theory of collective choice to find in the eminent domain clause a theory of political obligation that he claims is superior to any of its modern rivals.

Author: J. Benjamin Taylor
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 082036746X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description
By state law, graduates of public colleges and universities in Georgia must demonstrate proficiency with both the U.S. and Georgia constitutions. This widely used textbook helps students satisfy that requirement, either in courses or by examination. This brief and affordable study aid begins with a discussion of the ways that state and local governments, in providing services and allocating funds, affect our daily lives. Subsequent chapters are devoted to - the development of our federal system and the importance of constitutions in establishing authority, distributing power, and formalizing procedures - how the various state constitutions differ from each other, even as they all complement the U.S. Constitution - how constitutions in Georgia have been amended or replaced - Georgia’s governmental institutions at the state, county, and city levels - elections in Georgia, including the basic ground rules for holding primaries, general elections, and runoffs Key terms and concepts are covered throughout the book, as well as important court cases at the national and state level. In addition, helpful lists, diagrams, and tables summarize and compare such information as: - the structure of Georgia’s court system - the number of constitutions each of the fifty states has had, the number of times each state’s constitution has - been amended, and the length of each state’s current constitution - various procedures used by the states to amend their constitutions - Georgia’s ten constitutions, with highlights of their major changes or features - the number of amendments voted on in Georgia from 1984 to 2012 - the executive branch officials elected by the public across states - the constitutional boards and commissions in Georgia, with details on the methods by which members are chosen - the number and types of local governments in Georgia since 1952, including counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts - the major federal cases in which Georgia has been a party, on issues of discrimination, representation, freedom of speech and the press, the accused or convicted of crimes, and the right to privacy - rights and liberties, and how constitutions guarantee and protect them

Author: Loka Ashwood
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300235143
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
A fascinating sociological assessment of the damaging effects of the for†‘profit partnership between government and corporation on rural Americans Why is government distrust rampant, especially in the rural United States? This book offers a simple explanation: corporations and the government together dispossess rural people of their prosperity, and even their property. Based on four years of fieldwork, this eye†‘opening assessment by sociologist Loka Ashwood plays out in a mixed†‘race Georgia community that hosted the first nuclear power reactors sanctioned by the government in three decades. This work serves as an explanatory mirror of prominent trends in current American politics. Churches become havens for redemption, poaching a means of retribution, guns a tool of self†‘defense, and nuclear power a faltering solution to global warming as governance strays from democratic principles. In the absence of hope or trust in rulers, rural racial tensions fester and divide. The book tells of the rebellion that unfolds as the rights of corporations supersede the rights of humans.