A few days ago, I blogged about a Chinese homeowner who refused to give up his house to a local government that sought to force him out in order to build a road on the site. It now appears that he has agreed to sell the house for the price offered by the government, which […]
Archive | Eminent Domain
A Chinese Analogue to the Kelo Case?
This recent Chinese case has attracted a lot of attention in both China and the West, and is drawing comparisons to the famous US takings case of of Kelo v. City of New London. The Huffington Post describes the facts as follows: In the middle of an eastern Chinese city’s new main road, rising incongruously […]
Virginia Eminent Domain Reform Question 1 Passes
We don’t yet have the final results. But Virginia news radio station WINA 1070 is projecting that Question 1, the Virginia eminent domain reform referendum question, is going to pass by an “overwhelming” margin. For reasons I outlined here and here, this is an important improvement over the present Virginia constitution, which is one of […]
Some Key Referenda to Watch
By Ilya Somin on November 5, 2012 4:58 pm in Elections, Eminent Domain, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights, War on Drugs
In addition to the presidential and congressional elections tomorrow, there are also some important referenda initiatives on the ballot in many states. They include several on issues of special interest to me and many VC readers: property rights and the War on Drugs. Here in Virginia, we have Question 1, which would strengthen protection for […]
Upcoming Speech on Virginia Eminent Domain Reform – With Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
By Ilya Somin on October 23, 2012 10:45 am in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
This Thursday at 6:30 PM, I will be speaking on property rights and eminent domain reform in Virginia at the Old Dominion Boat Club in Alexandria. I will be joined by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, or perhaps it is more correct to say that I will be joining the AG. The event is open […]
A Dubious Attack On Virginia Eminent Domain Reform Referendum Question 1
By Ilya Somin on October 20, 2012 12:15 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In Friday’s Washington Post, state legislators Scott Surovell and Linda Puller published an op ed attacking Question 1, the eminent domain reform referendum question that Virginians will vote on in November. Unfortunately, their arguments are off-base, and some are seriously misleading. Question 1 would amend Virginia’s Constitution to forbid economic development takings of the kind […]
Thoughts on the Virginia Eminent Domain Reform Referendum Question
By Ilya Somin on October 16, 2012 4:24 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Various people have asked me what I think of Virginia Question 1, the eminent domain reform referendum question that will be on the ballot in November. Question 1 is one of many eminent domain reform referendum questions developed as part of the political backlash against the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New […]
Using Eminent Domain to Take Property For Universities
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting article on the use of eminent domain to forcibly acquire land for universities. It quotes various scholars and commentators on the subject, including yours truly: At a time when public university leaders regularly point to the advantages that private institutions have enjoyed over them in recent years […]
Eminent Domain and the Public Trust
What happens when the eminent domain power is used to obtain title to lands or other properties in which there are public trust responsibilities? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit confronted this question in U.S. v. California State Lands Commission (aka U.S. v. 32.42 Acres of Land. In particular, the court considered […]
Eminent Domain Abuse in Virginia
By Ilya Somin on May 15, 2012 11:20 am in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist A. Barton Hinkle recently published this piece on a case of eminent domain abuse in Virginia: As a general rule, progressives do not get worked up about property rights the way conservatives do. This is a mistake — as a case out of Norfolk shows. To the progressive eye, property is bound […]
University of North Carolina Talk on Property Rights Since Kelo
This Thursday at noon, I will be speaking at the University of North Carolina Law School on “Property Rights Since Kelo.” Much has happened on both the legislative and judicial fronts in the last few years. Considerable progress has been made in protecting property rights against abusive takings, but much work remains to be done […]
Debating the Constitutionality of New York Blight Condemnations
By Ilya Somin on March 12, 2012 9:42 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
The Fordham Urban Law Journal City Square website has posted a debate between NYU Professor Roderick Hills and myself on the the New York Court of Appeals controversial decisions upholding “blight” condemnations in the Atlantic Yards and Columbia University cases. In my 2011 symposium article “Let there Be Blight,” I argued that these takings violated […]
Eminent Domain Reform Bill Passes the House
The Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2012 passed the House yesterday on an overwhelming voice vote. I wrote about the bill in this post. As I explained there, the PRPA is far from a panacea for eminent domain abuse. But it takes a modest step in the right direction by cutting off some types […]
The Green Costs of Kelo Revisited
By Jonathan H. Adler on February 29, 2012 12:33 pm in Eminent Domain, Energy, Environment, Kelo, Property Rights
In 2006, Ilya and I co-authored “The Green Costs of Kelo: Economic Development Takings and Environmental Protection,” in which we argued that allowing the use of eminent domain for economic development was bad for environmental conservation. Environmentalist advocates responded with disbelief. The Community Rights Counsel (the precursor to the Constitutional Accountability Center) went so far […]
Another Chance at Federal Eminent Domain Reform
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s controversial Kelo decision, which allowed the condemnation of private property for economic development, some 44 states have passed eminent domain reform laws. Although many of those laws are likely to be ineffective, overall a good deal of progress has been made at the state level in curbing abusive […]