Crs Report for Congress: Takings Decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court

ISBN-10: 1295021323
ISBN-13: 9781295021321
Series: Crs Report for Congress
Pages: 26
Language: English
Published: 2013-10
Publisher: BiblioGov
Authors: Robert Meltz, Congressional Research Service: The Libr

Description

This report is a reverse chronological listing of U.S. Supreme Court decisions addressing claims that a government entity has "taken" private property, as that term is used in the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. A scattering of related, non-takings decisions is also included. Under the Takings Clause, courts allow two very distinct types of suit. Condemnation (also "formal condemnation") occurs when a government or private entity formally invokes its power of eminent domain by filing suit to take a specified property, upon payment to the owner of just compensation. By contrast, a taking action (also "inverse condemnation")--our topic here--is the procedural reverse. It is a suit by a property holder against the government, claiming that government conduct has effectively taken the property notwithstanding that the government has not filed a formal condemnation suit. A typical taking action complains of severe regulation of land use, though the Takings Clause reaches all species of property: real and personal, tangible and intangible. The taking action generally demands that the government compensate the property owner, just as when government formally exercises eminent domain. The Supreme Court's takings decisions reach as far back as 1870, and are divided here into three periods. The modern ...