Our annual reminder that 809 years ago tomorrow (June 15), the “great charter” (Magna Carta) was executed at Runnymeade. (And yes, we know that due to the change in calendars in the interim it wasn’t necessarily this very day, and also that King John didn’t sign the document, but rather sealed several copies of it.)
Property rights
Register Now! ALI-CLE Webinar “Property Rights and Regulatory Takings at the Supreme Court” (With Counsel For Sheetz & Devillier) – July 16, 2024
Mark your calendars and register now for the upcoming American Law Institute-CLE webinar “Property Rights and Regulatory Takings at the Supreme Court.” The focus of this program is a summary and analysis (including “what’s next?”) of the two big property and eminent domain cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, Sheetz (exactions), and…
California SCT To Review Major Challenge To Coastal Commission’s Claimed Power To Overrule Local Govt’s Housing Approvals
Disclosure: this one is one of ours, so we’re not going to do a deep dive or do much commentary (must resist!).
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court granted a Los Osos property owner’s petition, and agreed to review an (unpublished) Court of Appeal opinion which held that the California Coastal Commission has …
New “Spite Taking” Cert Petition: Can Govt Take Property To Stop Owner From Making An Allowed – But Disfavored – Use?
Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following.
Our friends at the Institute for Justice have filed this cert petition asking the Supreme Court to take up the case where a New York town eminent domained the Brinkmann property for a public park.
What’s wrong with that, you ask…isn’t a public park a …
(Another) Must-Listen Podcast: Infrastructure Junkies’ “The Greatest Eminent Domain Story That You’ve Never Heard!”
This one is about Robert Moses. Yeah, that guy. You may think you know the story, but even if you do, it will be worth your time to listen to this episode of Dave and Kristen’s Infrastructure Junkies podcast. You will probably learn something new like me.
Here’s the pod’s description of the episode:…
New Bound by Oath Episode: Berman, Public Use, And Urban Renewal
This is a must-listen, the latest episode of John Ross’s Bound by Oath podcast. This season is covering property rights, and this episode details Berman v. Parker, which may be the first case in what we’ll call the “modern era” where the Supreme Court set the judicial hands-off tone for public use challenges.
The…
ND: “Minimally Invasive” Precondemnation Entries Are Not Unconstitutional
Here’s the latest in an issue we’ve been following.
In SCS Carbon Transport LLC v. Malloy, No. 20230149 (May 30, 2024), the North Dakota Supreme Court held that that’s state’s statute which allows prospective condemnors to enter land to conduct surveys and the like before instituting eminent domain without liability is not unconstitutional…
Must Watch: “Love of the Land” – Romain Tenney’s Eminent Domain Protest
Please be sure to check this out: a new animated film, “Love of the Land,” which “highlights [the] tragic story of Vermont farmer Romaine Tenney.”
You remember Mr. Tenney, who was one of those classic Vermonters. He tragically entered the pages of history more than fifty years ago when, in reaction…
Happy Birthday, Nectow v. City of Cambridge!
It was on this day in 1928 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its second most famous decision about zoning, Nectow v. City of Cambridge., 277 U.S. 183 (1928).
We say “second” because everyone knows that the first is the Court’s decision issued just two years earlier which generally upheld comprehensive use, height, and…
New Cert Petition: Newly Decreed Easement Rule That Excludes Owners Is A Judicial Taking
Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following.
In Romero v. Shih, the California Supreme Court recognized the doctrine of an “implied exclusive easement” (which sounds an awful lot like a fee simple interest, doesn’t it?) in a private easement disputed between Owner A and Owner B.
The owner on the losing…





