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Eminent domain

Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia,[1][2] Singapore), compulsory purchase (Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Australia, Barbados, New Zealand, Ireland), or expropriation (Canada, South Africa) is the power to take private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and transfer ownership of private property from one property owner to another private property owner without a valid public purpose.[3] This power can be legislatively delegated by the state to municipalities, government subdivisions, or even to private persons or corporations, when they are authorized to exercise the functions of public character.[4]

The most common uses of property taken by eminent domain have been for roads, government buildings and public utilities. Many railroads were given the right of eminent domain to obtain land or easements in order to build and connect rail networks. In the mid-20th century, a new application of eminent domain was pioneered, in which the government could take the property and transfer it to a private third party for redevelopment. This was initially done only to a property that has been deemed "blighted" or a "development impediment", on the principle that such properties had a negative impact upon surrounding property owners, but was later expanded to allow the taking of any private property when the new third-party owner could develop the property in such a way as to bring in increased tax revenues to the government.


Some jurisdictions require that the taker make an offer to purchase the subject property, before resorting to the use of eminent domain. However, once the property is taken and the judgment is final, the condemnor owns it in fee simple, and may put it to uses other than those specified in the eminent domain action.


Takings may be of the subject property in its entirety (total take) or in part (part take), either quantitatively or qualitatively (either partially in fee simple or, commonly, an easement, or any other interest less than the full fee simple title).

Africa[edit]

Zimbabwe[edit]

Since the 1990s, the Zimbabwean government under Robert Mugabe has seized a great deal of land and homes of mainly white farmers in the course of the land reform movement in Zimbabwe. The government argued that such land reform was necessary to redistribute the land to Zimbabweans dispossessed of their lands during colonialism. These farmers were never compensated for this seizure.[9]

Asia[edit]

China[edit]

In China, "requisitions", the Chinese form of eminent domain, are constitutionally permitted as necessary for the public interest, and if compensation is provided. The 2019 Amendment of the Land Administration Law of China spells out rather detailed guidelines, guaranteeing farmers and those displaced greater financial security.[10]

legality: a public institution can expropriate private goods only in the cases law allows it and respecting its procedures (following article 23 of the );

Italian Constitution

compensation: (art. 42/III) the State must provide a certain amount of money as compensation, which is determined by law. According to the , this compensation is not required to be equal to the market value of the expropriated good, although this sum must not be merely symbolic.

Italian Constitutional Court

North America[edit]

The Bahamas[edit]

In the Bahamas, the Acquisition of Land Act operates to permit the acquisition of land where it is deemed likely to be required for a public purpose. The land can be acquired by private agreement or compulsory purchase (s7 of the Act). Under section 24 of the Acquisition of Land Act, the purchaser may purchase the interest of the mortgagee of any land acquired under the Act. To do so, the purchaser must pay the principal sum and interest, together with costs and charges plus 6 months’ additional interest.

Canada[edit]

In Canada, expropriation is governed by federal or provincial statutes. Under these statutory regimes, public authorities have the right to acquire private property for public purposes, so long as the acquisition is approved by the appropriate government body. Once a property is taken, an owner is entitled to "be made whole" by compensation for: the market value of the expropriated property, injurious affection to the remainder of the property (if any), disturbance damages, business loss, and special difficulty relocating. Owners can advance claims for compensation above that initially provided by the expropriating authority by bringing a claim before the court or an administrative body appointed by the governing legislation.[44]

Panama[edit]

In Panama, the government must pay a fair amount of money to the owner of the property to be expropriated.

South America[edit]

Argentina[edit]

In Argentina expropriations are governed by federal law 21.499 of January 17, 1977.[50] It has been used in many locations throughout the country's history most recently during the renationalization of YPF. which resulted in the expropriation of 51% of the energy company's shares.

Brazil[edit]

Brazil's expropriation laws are governed by the Presidential Decree No. 3365 of June 21, 1941.[51]

Chile[edit]

Art. 19, No. 24, of the Chilean Constitution says in part, "In no case may anyone be deprived of his property, of the assets affected or any of the essential faculties or powers of ownership, except by virtue of a general or a special law which authorizes expropriation for the public benefit or the national interest, duly qualified by the legislator. The expropriated party may protest the legality of the expropriation action before the ordinary courts of justice and shall, at all times, have the right to indemnification for patrimonial harm actually caused, to be fixed by mutual agreement or by a sentence pronounced by said courts in accordance with the law."[52]

Religion[edit]

Christianity[edit]

Since 1967, the encyclical Populorum progressio, an encyclical on Catholic social teaching by Pope Paul VI, allows the expropriation of land estates for common good needs.[53]

: during wars

Angary

Confiscation

Individual reclamation

Inverse condemnation

Land bonds

Law of the land (Jewish)

Legal plunder

: waterways regulation

Navigable servitude

Water law

Manifest destiny

. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.

"Eminent Domain"