- published: 20 May 2014
- views: 947409
Eminent domain (United States), compulsory purchase (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Australia), or expropriation (South Africa and Canada) is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent. The property is taken either for government use or by delegation to third parties who will devote it to public or civic use or, in some cases, economic development. The most common uses of property taken by eminent domain are for public utilities, highways, and railroads;[citation needed] however, it may also be taken for reasons of public safety, such as in the case of Centralia, Pennsylvania. Some jurisdictions require that the government body offer to purchase the property before resorting to the use of eminent domain.
The term "eminent domain" was taken from the legal treatise De Jure Belli et Pacis, written by the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius in 1625, which used the term dominium eminens (Latin for supreme lordship) and described the power as follows:
No one makes it out alive
But I know where the killer hides tonight
No one makes it out alive
But I know where the killer hides
I saw this night and the next
Off to flames four years ago
This gurney like roaches
Stomped out by fire
I warned the insects not to move
But none one ever listens
Don't believe this girl
She preaches mayhem
She's the devils bitch and a liar
I want to see the look her in eyes
When her body parts ways with life
No one listens to the damned
No one listens to the damned
I've searched miles
All of it will explode, I can see it all
No one listens to the damned
I've seen another human drowned, I have seen it all
No one listens to the damned
Greeting the circus, the monster will have him
No one listens to the damned
God damn, no one will believe me.