The Decline and Fall of the Right to Property: Government as Universal Landlord

Publication Date: October 2007

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Edward J. Erler

Research Area: Law and ethics

Keywords: Thought; Supreme Court; property rights; Fifth Amendment

Type: Other

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London indicates that the right to property must now be considered only a conditional right; property is held on the condition that no one else can use the property in a manner that better serves a public purpose. But as America's Founders remind us, the right to property is essential to the maintenance of liberty and the prevention of tyranny.