Determining 'Just Compensation' PDF Download

Author: Jeffrey Evans Stake
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The US Constitution requires the government to pay just compensation for taking private property. Justice, in this context, will be achieved only if compensation meets two tests, a reality test and a perception test. The reality test asks whether is it more likely than not that the owner deprived of her property would be made whole by the amount of compensation provided. In determining this likelihood, economics, biology, and psychology ought all to be considered. These disciplines indicate that possession, duration of possession, and multiple occupancy call for compensation bonuses. The perception test asks whether it is more likely than not that the average person would think that the owner would be made whole by the amount of compensation provided. In determining this likelihood, surveys of lay persons should play a key role. Participants surveyed provide more compensation when owners are in possession, when possession lengthens, when there are multiple occupants, and when the land is taken for a project involving substantial private ownership. Participants surveyed did not, however, consider justice to require that owners be awarded full compensation for subjective losses or that compensation be increased proportionately when property appreciates in value.