Here are a couple of interesting cases involving eminent domain (when the government seizes private property for public use):"When the World Trade Center in New York City was being planned in the 1960s, the public authority developing the project sought to condemn several hundred pieces of land owned by merchants and others. Was the construction of two giant office towers public use? Yes, the court ruled, because the public authority's desire to bring together businesses relating to international trade and to redevelop the harbor area where the project would be located was for the benefit of the public.
The World Trade Center was developed by a public entity. What if the government seeks to take land and turn it over to a private enterprise? In the 1970s and 1980s General Motors proposed to build a new auto assembly plant in Detroit. The announcement was welcomed by local and state officials as signaling a commitment to rebuilding the industrial infrastructure of the Detroit area. But the site for the plant was a working class neighborhood known as Poletown. To acquire the site, the redevelopment authority would have to condemn 1,400 homes, 150 businesses, and 16 churches, evicting 4,200 people and destroying the neighborhood in the process. Once the property was taken, it would be turned over to GM. Is it a valid public use to condemn property and then give it to a private owner? The Michigan court held that it is. The purpose in taking the land was not to alleviate the economic distress in Detroit by providing jobs for the workers at the new GM plant. Even though the only way to accomplish this was to give the land to a private owner, it was within the authority of the government to determine that it was in the public interest to do so." -From, "Law 101" By: Jay M. Feinman
[SIDEBAR: Bait and switch, much?]
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