Why the Public Plundering of Private Property Rights is Still a Very Bad Idea
47 Pages Posted: 29 Jul 2008
Date Written: 2006
Abstract
This Article details the history and development of the American conception of private property rights. The Article illustrates areas where that conception conflicts with some contemporary American exercises of regulatory power over land on behalf of the public interest. The author warns that while private property rights should not go unrestrained, giving too great an influence to the notion of public property has dangerous consequences to every American's personal and economic freedom, including the stifling of the individual incentive that made America the most prosperous nation in world history.
Keywords: Legal history, American property law, English land law, Fifth Amendment, takings, eminent domain, public trust, discrimination, public use, private property rights
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