The Anti-Federalist Tradition in Nineteenth-Century Takings Jurisprudence
One of the few truths about American takings jurisprudence is that it defies generalization. Legal thinkers have long complained about the lack of coherence of takings jurisprudence and how it therefore threatens the rule of law. Yet most Americans probably believe that their property is well protection and that the U.S. has one of the most property-protective legal regimes in the world. They are mostly right. They are wrong only to the degree that they assume that the U.S. has only one property regime. Despite repeated attempts by some legal academics and jurists throughout American history to generate a national law of property and eminent domain, the U.S. still has multiple property regimes.
