The history of eminent domain has been around since the 16th century and its use in the United States actually predates the U.S. Constitution (1791). The powers of eminent domain were included in the Constitution's Fifth Amendment and limited to public use... "Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
While there has been several changes in the interpretation of Eminent domain over the last 200 or so years non was more important than Supreme Court's ruling in 1954 (Berman v.
Parker), which made it clear that any areas deemed blighted, by the governmental powers, could in fact transfer the sites to private redevelopers.
To make matters worse, in 2005 they then made a ruling (Kelo v. City of New London) that the powers of the governmental entities now had authority to take non-blighted private property and also be able to then sell it to private developers.
The 2005 ruling sent states scrabbling to get additional legislation in place and this included the State of Tennessee. Although Tennessee added in an additional exception to the Tennessee Eminent Domain Law that included "use of eminent domain by public or private utilities, housing authorities or community development agencies to remove blight, private use that is merely incidental to public use, or the acquisition of property by a local government for an industrial park."
Even an executive order, in 2006, that included limiting its use to the "purpose of benefiting the general public and not for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken" could not undo the damage that had been done in as far as protecting one's own property.
But what Tennessee Legislators have failed to do has been to clearly define what constitutes "Blight" and this failure has essentially rendered all property owners open and powerless to defend against any eminent domain takeover.
- References:
- Tennessee Eminent Domain Law
- State of Tennessee
- Tennessee Legislators
- The Eminent Domain Revolt: Changing Perceptions in a New Constitutional Epoch -Book (compare prices)
Note: The photo above is that of Supreme Court Justice David Souter's home (Weare, NH), which eminent domain activists were trying to evict him from after being angered by a Supreme Court 2005 ruling that gave local governments more power to seize people's homes for economic development. The activists wanted to seize Justice David Souter's home to build an inn called the 'Lost Liberty Hotel.'