In 1986, David Lucas purchased two coastal lots in
South Carolina for $1 million. Two years later the state
legislature passed the South Carolina Beachfront Management Act,
which prohibited Lucas from developing his property because his
homes would have been too close to the ocean. Lucas sued the state
of South Carolina and eventually took his case to the United States
Supreme Court, which ruled government regulation cannot destroy the
economic value of private property without compensating the owner.
Due to this landmark “takings’ case, landowners are increasingly
citing the last clause of the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the
taking of private property for public use “without just
compensation,” says the Boulder, Colo.-based Land and Water Fund of
the Rockies. The group recently published a 27-page primer, Takings
Law: A Guide to Government, Property, and the Constitution, and in
it Kate Zimmerman and David Abelson review key takings cases to
define the differences between property use limitation and actual
“takings.” Most of the time, say the writers, governments reward
property owners with “givings.” Takings Law costs $4 from the LAW
Fund, 2260 Baseline Road, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302
(303/786-8054).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Guide to takings law.
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