THE

SOUTHERN

LAW REVIEW.

PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY.

NEW SERIES-VOLUME V.

ST. LOUIS:

G. I. JONES AND COMPANY.

1880.

20 SEP 1961

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by G. I. JONES AND COMPANY,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

SOUTHERN LAW REVIEW

VOL. V., N. S.] ST. LOUIS, APRIL, 1879.

[NUMBER I.

I.-COMPENSATION AS AN INCIDENT OF THE RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN.

I. Compensation not dependent upon Constitutional Provisions.

II. Mode of Ascertaining Compensation.

III. Time of Compensation.

IV. Amount of Compensation.

V. Who is entitled to Compensation.

VI. Compensation no Justification for a Taking for Private Use.

"Eminent domain is the public power of making a compulsory purchase of private property for public use; and payment (either made, or, by agreement of the parties, to be made) is an essential part of the legal idea of a purchase, voluntary or compulsory. Voluntary, and without payment, it is a donation; compulsory, and without payment, it is robbery."-Doe, J., 54 N. H. 590, 611.

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they should be made inviolable precepts, in every society, before it can be civilized, or made free.". 6 Works of John Adams, 9.

The right of eminent domain, whereby the State is justified in taking private property for public use, against the owner's consent, has been recognized from early times as a necessary incident of sovereignty. It is an attribute inherent in all governments, one of the jura majestatis, sometimes said to be "the law of the existence of every sovereignty." At this late day, when this right has been so long acquiesced in,