Essay On Eminent Domain

Eminent domain is the right of a government to expropriate private property, by fiat, for what it deems is ‘public purpose’. Historically, it has often been subsumed within sovereignty and counted as its attribute. Eminent domain comes from the Latin phrase dominium eminens, taken from Hugo Grotius’s legal treatise, De Jure Belli et Pacis (on The Law of War and Peace), written in 1625 . It allows the government to transfer or re-allocate private property rights against the payment of ‘just compensation’. Though the concept has evolved over time, it is distinctly different from forceful acquisition of property in an exhibition of power, by a person at the helm of affairs of a political state. Here ‘just compensation’ becomes a defining and distinct feature of eminent domain. Eminent Domain is the right of the government and not its power, that is, rights must have limits. It is interesting to note that, while compensation has been an important feature of this right, consent was not always explicitly discussed. It has come to become part of the later interpretations of the right and the concerned governing act or law, for most
Clear property rights must be characterized by the bundle of rights allowed to owner of the property-use rights, right to exchange etc.; or by benefit of exclusion- one person’s property right excludes all others in ownership and sharing of benefits arising out of ownership. Keeping this in mind we will attempt to answer two questions- i) What is the basis of eminent domain in terms of property rights and ii) how important are private property rights to the proper implementation of eminent