Antedating of "Eminent Domain"

Fred Shapiro fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Sun Jan 30 14:11:20 UTC 2005


eminent domain (OED 1850)

1805 Emer de Vattel _The Law of Nations_ 173 (Making of Modern Law)  The
right which belonged to the society or to the sovereign, of disposing, in
case of necessity and for the public safety, of all the wealth contained
in the state is called the _eminent domain_. ... If the nation disposes of
the _public property_, in virtue of his eminent domain, the alienation is
valid, as having been made with a sufficient power.


Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
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