Also known as: takings · taking · eminent domain · Takings Clause
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A body of constitutional doctrine that determines when government action amounts to a taking of private property for which just compensation is required under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Tobias Thomas owns a ranch near a military base. Low-altitude training flights by government aircraft repeatedly disrupt his cattle operations and cause structural damage. He sues alleging a taking. The court examines whether the flights substantially impair the property's utility even without physical entry.
Thaddeus Tran challenges a zoning ordinance that limits building height on his downtown lot. The restriction prevents any economically viable use of the parcel. Tran sues alleging a taking. The court applies the ad hoc balancing test to assess economic impact and investment-backed expectations.
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Tanya Tang represents a developer facing a regulatory taking claim after the state designates her client's wetlands as protected habitat. The client insists on pursuing a strategy the lawyer views as fundamentally misguided. The lawyer evaluates whether withdrawal is permitted while preserving the client's taking claim.
Theresa Tucker holds an easement across neighboring land that preserves her ocean view. The state condemns the servient estate to build a public road that will block the view. The court must decide whether the condemnation extinguishes the easement benefit.
Tori Taylor holds waterfront property subject to repeated government flooding from a nearby dam project. The flooding destroys all practical use of the land. Taylor sues alleging a taking. The court determines whether permanent physical invasion has occurred.
Tonya Takahashi transfers waterfront property to a trustee during her lifetime to hold for her children. Years later the state condemns the land for a park. The trustee asserts a taking claim on behalf of the trust beneficiaries seeking just compensation.
Courts apply an ad hoc balancing test that examines the economic impact of the regulation, the extent of interference with investment-backed expectations, and the character of the government action.
Supporting sources
A categorical taking occurs when a regulation denies the owner all economically beneficial use of the land or effects a permanent physical invasion.
Supporting sources
Amortization is permissible only if it provides a reasonable period for the owner to recoup investment and does not effectively destroy the property's value without compensation.
Penn Central requires case-specific balancing of economic impact and expectations, whereas a physical invasion is treated as a per se taking regardless of the extent of harm.
Supporting sources
…guarantees elsewhere provided in the Constitution. This liberty' is not a series of isolated points pricked out in terms of the taking of property; the freedom of speech, press, and religion; the right to keep and bear arms; the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; and so on. It is a rational continuum which,…