October 3, 2007 4:05PM 

# Civil Society 

By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) 

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A developer can’t persuade 86-year old [Edith Macefield](http://www.breitbart.tv/html/6336.html) to sell her home, so they build around her. And the construction workers help her out by picking up her lunch and taking her to the hair salon. In stark contrast, read about what arrogant federal agents did to [Frank Robbins](http://eminentdomain.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/robbins-and-ret.html) when they could not persuade him to surrender his property rights.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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