Takings Clause (Eminent Domain)

The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment provides that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. Applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, the clause constrains the government's power of eminent domain -- the inherent sovereign power to take private property for public purposes. The clause does not prohibit takings but requires that two conditions be met: the taking must be for a public use, and just compensation must be paid.

The public use requirement was interpreted broadly in Kelo v. City of New London (2005), where the Court held that economic development qualifies as a public use, even when the property is transferred to private parties, so long as the taking is rationally related to a conceivable public purpose. This expansive reading effectively gives legislatures broad deference to determine what constitutes a public use, though many states responded to Kelo by enacting legislation restricting the use of eminent domain for economic development.

Just compensation is measured by the fair market value of the property at the time of the taking -- what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller in an arm's-length transaction. Consequential damages, such as loss of business goodwill, are generally not compensable. The clause applies to direct physical appropriations by the government, where the government formally condemns property or physically invades it permanently. The Takings Clause also extends to regulatory takings (analyzed under separate frameworks like Penn Central and Lucas), where government regulation goes so far as to effectively deprive an owner of all economically beneficial use of the property.