Keystone Bituminous Coal Ass’n v. DeBenedictis
Supreme Court of the United States
480 U.S. 470 (1987)
The nature of the governmental action is critical in takings analysis.
A comparison of property values before and after the regulation is relevant, but it not necessarily conclusive.
A determination that a government action constitutes a taking, is, in essence, a determination that the public at large, rather than a single owner, must bear the burden of the exercise of state power in the public interest. This requires that private and public interests be weighed.
One of the critical questions in takings analysis is defining the unit of property which is purportedly being taken.
If an owner loses one “strand” of the “bundle of sticks” that comprise property rights, there is usually no taking, because the aggregate of the entire property must be considered, rather than one solitary aspect.