What is eminent domain?

Eminent domain is the power of the government to take private property belonging to its citizens. It can also be called "condemnation" or, in some states, "expropriation."

Can eminent domain be used to take my property and give it to another private party?

The federal and state constitutions all say that property may only be condemned for "public use." For many years, governments applied that term to mean that property could be taken for things like roads, schools, and public buildings.

Then, courts allowed eminent domain to be used for private corporations that had public utilities, like electric companies and railroads. Starting in the 1950s, eminent domain became increasingly used for "slum clearance." Once an area was declared to be a slum or blighted, it could be cleared using eminent domain, and the property could often then be transferred to another private party. Increasingly, over the second half of the twentieth century, local......

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Title: What Is Eminent Domain?
Approximate Word Count: 1381
Approximate Pages: 6 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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