Eminent domain

Eminent domain, also called land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, compulsory acquisition, or expropriation depending on the jurisdiction, is the power of a state to compel the acquisition of private property for public use, generally subject to a requirement of just compensation and a valid public purpose rather than a simple transfer between private owners. The power is most often exercised for roads, government buildings, and public utilities, historically was granted to railroads to assemble land for rail lines, and may be delegated by the state to municipalities, other government subdivisions, or private entities carrying out public functions. In the middle of the twentieth century the power expanded further in some jurisdictions to allow government to take property and transfer it to private developers, at first limited to blighted areas and later extended more broadly to property expected to generate increased tax revenue; once property is taken, the condemning authority holds it in fee simple and may use it for purposes beyond the one originally stated. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/