Property

Property

Description

The United States is thought to be a nation in which private property is scrupulously protected from public seizure and control. However, much of the law of property, and hence this chapter, focuses on the powers of government that have the potential to erode that protection. Both federal and state constitutional law give government extensive power over private property. Moreover, state and local governments with some frequency have enacted legislation extending their power to its limits. After fully exploring the breadth of government's power, we shall return at the end of this chapter to the means by which property rights are protected. Government, as we shall see, can exert power over property in three different ways. First, it can impose a tax on property. Real property taxes, in fact, constitute an important form of taxation in America, where most local governments derive the largest portion of their revenue from taxes imposed on lands and buildings within their jurisdiction. Secondly, government may use its power of eminent domain to seize individual pieces of property needed for public purposes, as long as it pays just compensation to the owner. Thirdly, government has enormous power to regulate how owners use their property. This chapter is structured around an analysis of each of these three powers: taxation, eminent domain, and regulation. Before turning to the law of real estate taxation, however, it is necessary to make a few preliminary observations about who can own interests in property and about the nature of the interests they can hold.

Source Publication

Fundamentals of American Law

Source Editors/Authors

Alan B. Morrison

Publication Date

1996

Property

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