Poletown – Vindicated if not Saved

Perhaps July 30th should be declared “Property Rights Restoration Day” in recognition of the justice finally done though too-long delayed for a tad over twenty-three years. For on that day of this year the Michigan Supreme Court - yes, a court - reversed its own 1981 decision that extended the use of eminent domain to the taking of private property for another’s private use - not a public one. Now all those law books on property that cite the earlier decision as having created a new law of the land will have to be rewritten. One piece of the Constitutional puzzle is in back in its proper place. Only a few hundred more to go. See:

Razing Objections
A court rediscovers property rights in the rubble of Poletown
By Jacob Sullum
reasononline
August 6, 2004