• Blog Post

    Master of Your Domain?: The Nuance of Eminent Domain and Charlotte’s Light Rail

    Since before the establishment of the United States, governments have taken the land of private citizens.  The issue was so fundamental to the founders of this country they wrote it into the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution which states, in part, “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”  The issue of what constitutes a taking, however, is still a matter of dispute in courts across the country, including the North Carolina Court of Appeals. On Tuesday, the Court published an opinion regarding whether a property owner was entitled to just compensation for the loss of visibility to a business due to the construction of a…