Also known as: segment · segmented · segmenting
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A portion of ownership in land or other property measured in terms of duration.
Scott Summers conveys Blackacre to Sabrina Shah for life with remainder to Spencer Silver in fee simple. The life estate Sabrina receives constitutes a segment of ownership measured by duration. When Sabrina dies the remainder becomes possessory. The division into segments determines the respective rights of the parties during and after the measuring life.
Synergy Systems owns a building whose air space is subject to a landmark preservation law that limits development for a defined period. The company argues the restriction takes a discrete temporal segment of its property. The court instead evaluates the regulation's impact on the parcel as a whole rather than isolating any single segment. This approach prevents a finding of total deprivation based on one temporal portion alone.
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Sapphire Technologies and Sterling Manufacturing each hold development rights in separate geographic areas and refrain from building in the other's territory for a set term. Plaintiffs claim the parallel conduct reveals an agreement to allocate market segments. The court finds the historical pattern of regional monopolies supplies an obvious lawful explanation. The alleged division into segments therefore does not support an inference of conspiracy.
Sierra Santos challenges a precedent by citing widespread public opposition after its announcement for a fixed period. The court notes that large segments of the bench and bar disagreed with earlier rulings yet those decisions were not labeled intensely divisive. The existence of opposing segments alone does not trigger special stare decisis concerns. The analysis therefore turns on factors beyond mere division of opinion.
Sarah Sullivan owns coastal lots whose development rights are eliminated by a new environmental statute for the duration of the restriction. She contends the regulation eliminates all economic value in a defined temporal segment of her holdings. The court explains that any land-use rule can be recast as total deprivation by redefining the relevant property segment. Objective measurement of the denominator therefore controls whether a taking has occurred.
Skyline Construction holds development rights frozen by a multi-year regional planning moratorium measured by its stated term. It argues the restriction severs a temporal segment of its property interest. The court treats the moratorium as a delay rather than a permanent division into discrete segments. The length and character of the restriction are weighed against the parcel as a whole to determine whether compensation is required.
A segment measured by duration may be either present or future. A life estate is a present segment measured by the life of the measuring party. A remainder following the life estate is a future segment that becomes possessory only upon the termination of the prior segment.
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Isolating one segment would allow every regulation to be characterized as a total deprivation of that portion. The Supreme Court instead examines the character of the government action and the extent of interference with rights in the parcel as a whole.
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Each contributor is treated as settlor only of the portion attributable to that person's contribution. The trust remains one instrument, but settlor status and consequences track the separate segments of property each party supplied.
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…uncompromising austerity."[^maj-17] Dr. Edelstein then concludes that the Oath originated in a group representing only a small segment of Greek opinion and that it certainly was not accepted by all ancient physicians. He points out that medical writings down to Galen (A. D. 130-200) "give evidence of the violation of…