EMINENT DOMAIN-VALIDITY OF STATE STATUTE

Authors

Abstract

As upon certiorari, the New Mexico Supreme Court considered the question, whether it is "within legislative competence to declare a public use in the industry of coal mining, so as to permit taking private property in aid of it." Plaintiff had obtained a judgment of condemnation, and defendant attacked it as offensive to the New Mexico constitutional provision: "Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation." The opinion recognized the existence of an "orthodox" and a "liberal" doctrine of construing "public use." While the court found that, unlike Nevada's or Utah's, New Mexico's well-being was not dependent upon mining, that is, there was no compelling public benefit in coal mining, a test applied by the "liberal" doctrine, and while the court denied any intention to shut the door on the "liberal" view, it nonetheless saw "no easy or logical stopping place" once the "orthodox" view was quit, and it held the condemnation statute, as far as it applied to coal mining, violative of the New Mexico Constitution. Gallup American Coal Co. v. Gallup Southwestern Coal Co., (N. M. 1935) 47 P. (2d) 414.

Recommended Citation

EMINENT DOMAIN-VALIDITY OF STATE STATUTE, 34 Mich. L. Rev. 424 (1936).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol34/iss3/17