Essay - Eminent Domain Rulings are Frequently Minimally Damaging to Property Owners...

Eminent Domain rulings are frequently minimally damaging to property owners, as only small portions of land have been seized for government use, yet there ***** also many cases a year where a government entity, be it st*****te, local or federal utilizes eminent domain laws to seize or purchase property that includes domestic residences. In such cases the municipal*****y often has the upper hand, with regard to ***** price as they can dictate the purc*****e price at any level the individual is willing to accept or set the r*****e of purchase at the tax assessed value of ***** property, a rate ***** is usually significantly lower than the fair market value of the *****. Additionally, the municipality may argue in favor of a ***** price determined by the value of the ***** itself, not including ***** improvements upon it, including homes and other buildings as the value becomes very limited once the announcement of ***** domain seizure has occurred. In short, the government can set the rate of reimbursement to property owners, wherever they want it to be as they are going to be the ***** ones ***** to pay for it, once *****y have decided they ***** it.

The Fifth Amendment provides the legal standard ***** eminent domain: "nor shall private ***** be taken for public *****, ********** just compensation." (1) Thus, ***** are two const*****utional requirements for the exerc*****e of eminent *****: that the use be public, and that the owner receive just compensation.

(***** 759)

The problem that arises from the circumstance is ***** "*****" is not a ***** definitive description of compens*****tion and *****s facing the might ***** a government m*****y feel intimidated and overpowered to the point of accepting ***** first offer the government makers, ***** if it is a mandate rather than an *****. *****, the individuals that would be most likely to be hurt ***** the process would be people who had l*****tle or no concept of the ***** market value of their property. This is likely to be people who ***** lived in their ***** f***** a long time, such *****s the elderly, who also ***** have a stiff sense of respect for authority or the po***** who have limited resources *****d often education ***** fight such authority.

***** 83)

An additional ********** regard*****g the ***** of ***** domain is that of ***** first constitutional stipulation, that the property be intended ***** public use. In recent years there ***** ***** many challenges to actions by municipalities with regard to what defines ***** use. As in the last 100 ***** municipalities have tended to loosely apply the term public to almost any purpose ***** denotes economic growth and development. "By the Twentieth Century it appeared that the narrow doctr*****e, where ***** still ostensibly existed, constituted at best a minor hindr*****nce to liberal ***** of the eminent domain power. (103)" (Cohen 491) The frustr*****ing part is ***** in ***** cases the property will actually be held ***** private developers who will likely stand to gain