The Short ConstitutionWade, Martin J. (Martin Joseph)
History
The Short Constitution
Wade, Martin J. (Martin Joseph)
United States. Constitution
“Eminent domain is said with more precision to be the right of the
nation or the state, or of those to whom the power has been lawfully
delegated, to condemn private property to public use, upon paying to
the owner a due compensation, to be ascertained according to
law.”—Bouvier’s _Law Dictionary_, Vol. I, p. 651.
Just compensation is generally arrived at by those whose duty it is
to secure the land for the government, by offering a good fair price
for the land. If the owner of the land refuses to accept the offer,
the land may be seized by the proper authority and the matter
settled according to law. The law generally provides that a body of
appraisers be appointed who appraise the value of the land and this
amount is offered to the owner. If he refuses, the matter is carried
to the court for determination. A jury is summoned to assess the
value of the land and from this the owner may usually appeal, but
the government cannot appeal; it must pay the appraised valuation or
allow the owner to keep his property. It must be remembered that
private property may only be taken by the government for public
purposes.
Some purposes for which the government may take private property
are: forts and arsenals, army posts, or public parks. It may take
food supplies for use of the army or navy in time of war. It may
take over the railroads for the benefit of the people of the Nation,
etc. In all cases it must give just compensation.
66 Constitution of the United States, Amendment VI.
“A speedy trial is, it appears, one that is brought on without
unreasonable delay for preparation; and a public trial is not
necessarily one to which every one may obtain admission but one
sufficiently free and open to allow the friends of the accessed and
others to watch the proceedings.”—Emlin McClain, quoted in the
_Cyclopedia of American Government_.
“Criminal prosecution is the means adopted to bring a supposed
offender to justice and punishment by due course of law.”
“The speedy trial to which a person charged with crime is entitled
under the constitution is a trial at such a time, after the finding
of the indictment, as shall afford the prosecution a reasonable
opportunity, by the fair and honest exercise of reasonable
diligence, to prepare for trial, and if the trial is delayed or
postponed beyond such period, when there is a term of court at which
the trial might be had, by reason of neglect of the prosecution in
preparing for trial, such delay is a denial to the defendant of the
right of a speedy trial, and in such case a person confined, upon
application by _habeas corpus_, is entitled to a discharge from
custody.”—Bouvier’s _Law Dictionary_, Vol. II, p. 1023.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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