A Dozen Propositions on Private Property, Public Rights, and the New Takings Legislation

Abstract

Property rights are a hot political topic. In the last few years, the issue of regulatory "takings" of property has ceased to be merely a vastly overwritten subject in the legal academic literature. A "property rights" movement—taking aim in particular at environmental legislation—seems to have been energized by several new takings cases from the Supreme Court and, to a lesser extent, from a newly activist Court of Federal Claims. "Takings" bills are debated fiercely in Congress and in statehouses all over the United States, as state and federal legislators entertain measures that confront a pattern of regulation that is said to threaten private property.