| Noun | 1. | eminent domain - the right of the state to take private property for public use; the Fifth Amendment that was added to the Constitution of the United States requires that just compensation be made |
EMINENT DOMAIN. The right which people or government retain over the estates
of individuals, to resume the same for public use.
2. It belongs to the legislature to decide what improvements are of
sufficient importance to justify the exercise of the right of eminent
domain. See 2 Hill. Ab. 568 1 U. S. Dig. 560; 1 Am. Eq. Dig. 312 3 Toull. n.
30 p. 23; Ersk. hist. B. 2) tit. 1, s. 2; Grotius, h.t. See Dominium.