Defined term
Regulatory taking
A regulatory taking occurs when government regulation burdens private property so severely that the property is effectively taken from its owner, triggering the Fifth Amendment's just-compensation requirement.
The Fifth Amendment prohibits the government from taking private property for public use without just compensation. A regulatory taking is the doctrine that applies when no physical seizure has occurred, but regulation deprives the owner of substantial economic use or interferes with reasonable investment-backed expectations.
The U.S. Supreme Court has built a three-rule framework: (1) Loretto-line per se takings for permanent physical invasion; (2) Lucas-line per se takings when regulation deprives the owner of all economically viable use; and (3) Penn Central balancing for everything in between. The Court's 2024 Sheetz decision extended the doctrine into the exactions arena, confirming that legislatively-imposed development fees are subject to Nollan/Dolan scrutiny.
Cases
- Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City (1978), 438 U.S. 104
- Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council (1992), 505 U.S. 1003
- Sheetz v. County of El Dorado (2024), 601 U.S. ___
Statutes
- U.S. Const. amend. V