Reynolds Susan. Before Eminent Domain: Toward a History of Expropriation of Land for the Common Good

Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010. — 192 p. — (Studies in Legal History).In this concise history of expropriation of land for the common good in Europe and North America from medieval times to 1800, Susan Reynolds contextualizes the history of an important legal doctrine regarding the relationship between government and the institution of private property.Before Eminent Domain concentrates on western Europe and the English colonies in America. As Reynolds argues, expropriation was a common legal practice in many societies in which individuals had rights to land. It was generally accepted that land could be taken from them, with compensation, when the community, however defined, needed it. She cites examples of the practice since the early Middle Ages in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and from the seventeenth century in America.Reynolds concludes with a discussion of past and present ideas and assumptions about community, individual rights, and individual property that underlie the practice of expropriation but have been largely ignored by historians of both political and legal thought.Introduction
The Problem of Origins
Historians and Expropriation
The Evidence
The Plan and Scope of the Book
Western Europe before 1100
Ancient Greece and Rome
The Problem of Evidence in the Early Middle Ages
Church Property
Fortifications
Other Probable Expropriations
Unjust Expropriations
Conclusion
Western Europe and British North America, 1100–1800
The Plan of the Chapter
England
Italy
France
Germany
Spain
The English Colonies in America
Conclusion
Justifications and Discussions
The Problem
Before Grotius
Grotius and After
Conclusion
Communities, Individuals, and Property
The Problem
Before Grotius: Communities
Before Grotius: Individuals
Before Grotius: Property
Grotius and After
Conclusion