Abstract:
This Article explores the reality that unlike private property owners, governments are not necessarily entitled to just compensation when other governments take their property. Payne begins with the distinction between private and public property owners. Payne details the economic and legal justifications of just compensation, and he concludes that compensation for government property owners is justified, not be the constitutional just compensation clauses, but by tax uniformity requirements. Payne concludes the Article with a list of principles he argues lead to a compensation scheme with appropriate limits.