Props to the Michigan Supreme Court

Findlaw columnist Marci Hamilton writes today about a recent Michigan Supreme Court case that may have a ripple effect across the rest of the country. The court sided with a landowner against a county government that wanted to seize his land (for a price) using the power of eminent domain. The goal of this seizure was so the county could give the land to a private firm to develop the site as an industrial and technical park. The case is noteworthy because it may stem an unwelcome trend in property law over the past few years. Eminent domain can only be exercised for a "public good," which used to mean things like roads or airports - public works, in other words. More recently, however, local governments have used the power to take lands from one private citizen and give it to another, usually a commercial venture like a Wal-Mart. The theory was that stimulating the local economy was a "public good" and thus this was a proper use of eminent domain. The Michigan court rejected that argument. The court hopefully recognized that this was, in essence, redistribution of wealth, from individuals to businesses. It tramples on the notion of private property that is the basis of capitalism in the first place.