Section 9 Public Use

• Library: Condemnation Practice 2009

The power of eminent domain cannot be exercised until it is demonstrated that the use behind the taking is a public one. State ex rel. Devanssay v. McGuire, 622 S.W.2d 323 (Mo. App. E.D. 1981). The same constitutional provision that creates the guarantee against an unlawful taking requires that deprivation of property or invasion of it must be for public use. Mo. Const. art. I, § 26. The issue of “public use” to which condemned property must be devoted is a judicial question. To constitute public use, it...