Public Ruses

18 Pages Posted: 6 Apr 2005

See all articles by Christopher Serkin

Christopher Serkin

Vanderbilt Law School

James E. Krier

University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

The Fifth Amendment's public use requirement - a dead letter for decades - has recently been resurrected by the Michigan Supreme Court, overruling Poletown, and by the United States Supreme Court, granting certiorari in Kelo v. City of New London. At issue in these cases is the government's ability to condemn property from one private property owner and retransfer it to another, usually with a justification of more-or-less indirect economic benefits to the community. This Essay first argues the legitimacy of these government actions exists on a spectrum from true public uses, to public ruses that primarily benefit private interests but have some benefit to the public, to naked transfers that appear to be nothing but giveaways. This Essay argues, however, that the key to resolving these condemn-and-retransfer cases is not injunctive relief but instead a flexible approach to compensation. In particular, the Essay proposes valuing property taken for a public ruse using the government's own economic assumptions about this effect of the condemn-and-retransfer scheme, thus increasing compensation for the property owner and also increasing the government's incentive to make realistic economic predictions. For naked transfers, the Essay proposes gain-based compensation in order to put the government to the test that the condemnation will actually create some surplus public benefit. Ultimately, liability rule protection provides a better solution than property rule protection for condemn-and-retransfer cases.

Keywords: Takings, Property, Public Use, Kelo

Suggested Citation

Serkin, Christopher and Krier, James E., Public Ruses. Michigan State Law Review, Vol. 2004, p. 859, 2004, Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 44, NYU Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 05-12, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=696042

Christopher Serkin (Contact Author)

Vanderbilt Law School ( email )

131 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
United States
615-343-6131 (Phone)

James E. Krier

University of Michigan Law School ( email )

625 South State Street
1039 Legal Research Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
United States
734-764-4701 (Phone)
734-764-8309 (Fax)

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
208
Abstract Views
4,125
Rank
290,052
PlumX Metrics