56 Wis. 2d 7, 201 N.W.2d 761 (Wis. 1972)
Just v. Marinette County is a landmark Wisconsin Supreme Court decision at the intersection of property rights, environmental protection, and the public trust doctrine.
Does a county shoreland-wetland zoning ordinance, adopted pursuant to state authority to protect navigable waters and public rights, effect an unconstitutional taking by prohibiting a landowner from filling and altering marshy shorelands without a permit, or is it a valid exercise of the police power to prevent harm to public resources?
Under Wisconsin law, regulations enacted pursuant to the police power that are reasonably related to preventing harm to public health, safety, and welfare—particularly the protection of navigable waters and public rights under the public trust doctrine—do not constitute a compensable taking, even if they restrict certain uses of private property or diminish its value. Property rights are held subject to the state's duty to protect navigable waters, and an owner has no absolute right to change the natural character of shorelands and wetlands in ways that injure public rights. The question is one of reasonableness: whether the regulation bears a substantial relation to a legitimate public purpose and prevents harm rather than confers a special public benefit.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the shoreland-wetland zoning ordinance as a constitutional exercise of the police power and affirmed injunctive relief. The ordinance's restrictions on filling and altering wetlands adjacent to navigable waters did not effect an unconstitutional taking of the Justs' property.
Just v. Marinette County is a touchstone in property and environmental law for its articulation of the harm-preventing police power and the relationship between the public trust doctrine and land use controls near navigable waters. It illustrates how environmental regulations that preserve the natural character of shorelands and wetlands can be sustained against takings challenges. For law students, the case provides an essential analytical framework later echoed in federal takings jurisprudence: it anticipates the idea that "background principles" of state property and nuisance law (including the public trust) can defeat takings claims (as recognized in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council). It also remains a core Wisconsin case guiding shoreland and wetland regulation, demonstrating how reasonableness, not mere economic impact, drives the takings inquiry in harm-prevention contexts.