Corporate Welfare

Corporate Welfare
Author: James T. Bennett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351525735

From the time of Alexander Hamilton's "Report on Manufactures" through the Great Depression, American towns and cities sought to lure footloose companies by offering lavish benefits. These ranged from taxpayer-financed factories, to tax exemptions, to outright gifts of money. This kind of government aid, known as "corporate welfare," is still around today. After establishing its historical foundations, James T. Bennett reveals four modern manifestations.His first case is the epochal debate over government subsidy of a supersonic transport aircraft. The second case has its origins in Southern factory relocation programs of the 1930s the practice of state and local governments granting companies taxpayer financed incentives. The third is the taking of private property for the enrichment of business interests. The fourth export subsidies has its genesis in the New Deal but matured with the growth of the Export-Import Bank, which subsidizes international business exchanges of America's largest corporate entities.Bennett examines the prospects for a successful anti-corporate welfare coalition of libertarians, free market conservatives, Greens, and populists. The potential for a coalition is out there, he argues. Whether a canny politician can assemble and maintain it long enough to mount a taxpayer counterattack upon corporate welfare is an intriguing question.

Evicted!

Evicted!
Author: David Schultz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2009-12-22
Genre: Law
ISBN: 031335345X

Evicted! is a practical and critical look at the vulnerability of Americans' property rights to eminent domain abuse since the Supreme Court's 2005 Kelo decision. The 2005 Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London, which upheld the taking of an individual's home by local government for the sake of private development, unleashed a firestorm of controversy. The backlash against eminent domain cuts across partisan, ideological, and racial lines, with 4 out of 5 Americans opposing Kelo. Critics of Kelo claim that it represents a radical departure in the law, putting every homeowner in jeopardy of dispossession by government at the service of corporate interests. But are property rights and eminent domain truly in mortal conflict? Written for general readers, property owners, and local government officials seeking to understand the implications of Kelo for eminent domain and property law, Evicted! cuts through all the hype and hysteria surrounding Kelo and argues that the alleged wave of eminent domain abuse is mostly a myth. Evicted! describes what property rights are, why the law protects them, and how eminent domain really works. Schultz shows that Kelo did not make new law but only broadened Supreme Court precedents, and he refutes claims that Kelo has opened the way to widespread eminent domain abuse. Nevertheless, the author identifies certain legislative changes that are needed at the local, state, and national levels to better protect individual property owners when corporate thugs and corrupt government officials occasionally gang up against them.

The Grasping Hand

The Grasping Hand
Author: Ilya Somin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2016-11-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 022645682X

In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the city of New London, Connecticut, could condemn fifteen residential properties in order to transfer them to a new private owner. Although the Fifth Amendment only permits the taking of private property for “public use,” the Court ruled that the transfer of condemned land to private parties for “economic development” is permitted by the Constitution—even if the government cannot prove that the expected development will ever actually happen. The Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London empowered the grasping hand of the state at the expense of the invisible hand of the market. In this detailed study of one of the most controversial Supreme Court cases in modern times, Ilya Somin argues that Kelo was a grave error. Economic development and “blight” condemnations are unconstitutional under both originalist and most “living constitution” theories of legal interpretation. They also victimize the poor and the politically weak for the benefit of powerful interest groups and often destroy more economic value than they create. Kelo itself exemplifies these patterns. The residents targeted for condemnation lacked the influence needed to combat the formidable government and corporate interests arrayed against them. Moreover, the city’s poorly conceived development plan ultimately failed: the condemned land lies empty to this day, occupied only by feral cats. The Supreme Court’s unpopular ruling triggered an unprecedented political reaction, with forty-five states passing new laws intended to limit the use of eminent domain. But many of the new laws impose few or no genuine constraints on takings. The Kelo backlash led to significant progress, but not nearly as much as it may have seemed. Despite its outcome, the closely divided 5-4 ruling shattered what many believed to be a consensus that virtually any condemnation qualifies as a public use under the Fifth Amendment. It also showed that there is widespread public opposition to eminent domain abuse. With controversy over takings sure to continue, The Grasping Hand offers the first book-length analysis of Kelo by a legal scholar, alongside a broader history of the dispute over public use and eminent domain and an evaluation of options for reform.

The Construction of Property

The Construction of Property
Author: Amnon Lehavi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2013-06-20
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1107276772

The Construction of Property identifies the structural and institutional foundations of property, and explains how these features can accommodate various normative agendas. Offering rich and cutting-edge analysis, the book studies the spectrum of property regimes including private, common and public property as well as innovative forms of property hybrids such as US-style residential community associations, the British Private Finance Initiative, the Israeli Renewing Kibbutz, community land trusts and grassroots phenomena of property ordering in publicly-owned open spaces. It also investigates the protagonists of property beyond the individual and the state, identifying the key role that community organisations and business corporations play for both the private and public aspects of property. The book then addresses property's greatest challenge: the move from a largely domestic legal construct into one that accommodates the increasing social and economic forces of globalisation.

Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking

Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking
Author: Akhil Reed Amar
Publisher: Aspen Publishing
Total Pages: 2338
Release: 2022-01-31
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1543838561

The purchase of this ebook edition does not entitle you to receive access to the Connected eBook with Study Center on CasebookConnect. You will need to purchase a new print book to get access to the full experience, including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities; practice questions from your favorite study aids; an outline tool and other helpful resources. This hugely successful materials-and-problems book is acclaimed for its textual clarity, evenhanded perspective, and contemporary, up-to-date character. Easily distinguished from other property casebooks for its plain-language descriptions of legal doctrine; explanations of the social ramifications of our system of property law; emphasis on statutory and regulatory interpretation; comprehensive treatment of public accommodations and fair housing law, tribal property issues, and property in human bodies; and use of the problem method to teach legal reasoning and lawyering skills. Streamlined for more accessible teaching, the Eighth Edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect significant changes in the law of property, including in responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, in intellectual property, housing discrimination, regulatory takings, and more. Key Features: Updated to reflect significant changes in the law of property to help professors keep current and be aware of emerging disputes Streamlined to assist in making teaching from the casebook more accessible, without sacrificing coverage and depth New materials and problems have been added in an array of areas, including: The importance of race and slavery in shaping property law and distribution The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on several core areas of property law Growing questions about the balance between public accommodations and religious liberty, including Masterpiece Cakeshop, Inc. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 138 S. Ct. 1719 (2018) and its aftermath Emerging caselaw on the rights of people experiencing homelessness; Shifts in property rights emerging from marriage and non-marital intimate relationships; New materials on the law and practice of trusts and the impact of reproductive technologies Recent developments in tribal sovereignty disputes, including McGirt v. Oklahoma, 140 S. Ct. 2452 (2020) Developments in intellectual property, including in copyright and fair use Shifts in fair housing law, including developments involving landlord responsibility for tenant-to-tenant discriminatory harassment Recent Supreme Court developments in the realm of regulatory takings, including Murr v. Wisconsin, 137 S.Ct. 1933 (2017), Knick v. Township of Scott, 139 S. Ct. 2162 (2019); and Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (to be decided by the end of this Term) Professors and students will benefit from: Clear, concise, accessible coverage of core property doctrines, through caselaw, statutes, and regulatory materials Fully updated engagement with contemporary controversies in our system of property; and Excellent opportunities for problem- and exercise-based learning in every section

Environmental Law

Environmental Law
Author: Philip Weinberg
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2006
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780761832942

Environmental Law: Cases and Materials, Third Edition is designed to reflect the vital and symbiotic connection between land-use regulation and the more traditional scope of environmental law. In addition it recognizes the importance of administrative agency decision-making in environmental law. The book begins with a look at the judicial review process of agency decisions and important issues. It examines the common-law remedy of nuisance, the matrix of so much of environmental law and still a significant cause of action, and goes on to look at land-use controls, with particular emphasis on critical areas-landmarks, wetlands, coastal resources-and the de facto taking issue. Air and water quality, waste, toxics and the other areas of comprehensive statutory control, the National Environmental Policy Act, electric generation, and the increasingly important area of international environmental law are also discussed. Since the Third Edition was published three years ago, much has occurred in this fast-shifting field. Several important decisions have dealt with air and water quality and international issues such as global warming have expanded. The Third Edition reflects these recent events.

Modern Studies in Property Law - Volume 6

Modern Studies in Property Law - Volume 6
Author: Susan Bright
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2011-05-13
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1782253521

The Modern Studies in Property Law Conference has become well-known as a unique opportunity for property lawyers to meet and confer both formally and informally. The eighth biennial conference was held at the University of Oxford in March 2010, and this book is the sixth in the series Modern Studies in Property Law. The volume is a refereed and revised selection of the papers given at the Oxford conference, covering a broad range of topics of contemporary importance, both nationally and internationally. The book includes chapters written by the key speakers at the conference: Lady Justice Arden, Professor Kevin Gray and Law Commissioner, Professor Elizabeth Cooke.

Street Smart

Street Smart
Author: Gabriel Roth
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Total Pages: 584
Release: 2011-12-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1412815789

The poor health of today's roads--a subject close to the hearts of motorists, taxpayers, and government treasurers around the world--has resulted from faulty incentives that misdirect government decision-makers, according to the contributors to Street Smart. During the 1990s, bad government decision-making resulted in the U.S. Interstate Highway System growing by only one seventh the rate of traffic growth. The poor maintenance of existing roads is another concern. In cities around the world, highly political and wasteful government decision-making has led to excessive traffic congestion that has created long commutes, reduced safety, and caused loss of leisure time. Street Smart examines the privatization of roads in theory and in practice. The authors see at least four possible roles for private companies, beyond the well-known one of working under contract to design, build, or maintain governmentally provided roads. These include testing and licensing vehicles and drivers; management of government-owned facilities; franchising; and outright private ownership. Two chapters describe the history of private roads in the United Kingdom and the United States. Contemporary examples are provided of road pricing, privatizing, and contracting out are evident in environs as diverse as Singapore, Southern California, and Scandinavia, and cities as different as Bergen, Norway, and London, England. Finally, several chapters examine strategies for implementing privatization. The principles governing providing scarce resources in free societies are well known. We apply them to such necessities as energy, food, and water so why not to "road space"? The main obstacle to private, or semi-private, ownership of roads is likely to remain the reluctance of the political class to give up a lucrative source of power and influence. Those who want decisions about road services to be controlled by the interplay of consumers and suppliers in free markets, rather than by politicians, will have to explain the need for change. Street Smart makes a powerful case for the need for change and sheds light on the complex issues involved. Gabriel Roth is a transport and privatization consultant and a research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California.

Property Rights and Eminent Domain

Property Rights and Eminent Domain
Author: Ellen Frankel Paul
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1351496271

In a country built on the institution of private property, property-owner rights have been under attack. By arguing that private property is a fundamental liberty whose protection deserves the highest priority, Ellen Frankel Paul challenges one of the dominant trends of the past half century: the erosion of property rights via zoning and land use restrictions, carried on by government exercising its "police power" or promoting "the public interest." Paul begins by examining the arguments of environmentalists in support of land-use legislation, and explores a few particularly troubling examples of the exercise of eminent domain and police powers. She traces the philosophical arguments for the two powers as well as their tortuous judicial history, the meaning of property rights and investigates how previous thinkers have defended these rights is detailed, and Paul suggests a more adequate defense for them. In the concluding portion of the book, the very legitimacy of eminent domain is questioned and the author offers recommendations for its reform. This analysis is wide in scope and makes creative use of historical, legal, economic, and philosophic methodologies. It not only gives an account of the present power regulations on land, but also provides an exhaustive history of the development of the law in these two areas and of the philosophical ideas of the thinkers who helped shape this process. This book is distinctive because it places a theory of the just acquisition of property at the heart of the answer to the question of the extent to which governments can rightfully exercise the powers of eminent domain and police. "Amazingly, in a country built on the institution of private property, the right to property in land has been under increasing assault, and has seldom been defended. Paul's book--by arguing that private property is a fundamental liberty whose protection deserves the highest priority--is a major step toward filling the void."--Robert Hessen, Stanford University