Eminent Domain: Its Uses and Abuses
POLICY FORUMTuesday, May 14, 2002
12:00 p.m.
Featuring Jeff Finkle, Chief Executive Officer, International Economic Development Council; and Scott Bullock, Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice.
The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
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Eminent domain, recognized in both federal and state constitutions, is the power of government to condemn private property and take title for public use, provided owners receive just compensation. Known once as the despotic power, its exercise was restrained by the need to compensate owners and the requirement that the property taken be put to a "public use." For many years, however, courts have read the public-use restraint broadly, enabling governments to take property from one owner, often small and powerless, and transfer it to another, often large and politically connected, all in the name of economic development, urban renewal, or job creation. But that is beginning to change. Institute for Justice lawyers, in particular, have brought successful suits across the country to put teeth back into the public-use restraint. And only a month ago the Illinois Supreme Court came down with an opinion that did the same. Please join us for a clash of views on the scope of eminent domain.