structural:summarization, structural:expansion, information:classification
Eminent domain

The Takings Clause originally applied only to the federal government, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1897 case Chicago, B. & Q. Railroad Co. v. Chicago that the Fourteenth Amendment incidentally extended the effects of that provision to the states. During the 19th Century, the power of eminent domain could only be exercised, generally, if the property condemned would literally be used by the public, such as for a road, a ferry, a mill, or a government building. Over time, however, the federal courts adopted a more expansive interpretation of "public use" as meaning any " public benefit," and the courts have deferred to the legislature's determination regarding what constitutes a "public use."