The Jurisprudence of Just Compensation

Abstract

Despite the complaints about the state's increasing regulation of our lives, I have no doubt that much good comes from all this activity: it cleans the water; it makes for decent homes; it provides a safer work place. The problem is that while a large number of people gain from the whirlwind, some people lose. And this fact provides us with the question: when will these losers be obliged to bear their injuries as best they can, and when will others be called upon to help them out and compensate them for their loss? This is a central question in the law of the activist state.