No one's property can be taken as the result of a criminal action without due process a trial, representation, ability to confront witnesses, and the other procedural devices we associate with due process. This is the power of eminent domain which belongs to every sovereign government. It is the power to take private property for public use, to built a post office, a military base and the like. The taking of property under eminent domain for public use is a relatively uncomplicated matter. In recent years, however, courts have in effect amended the Fifth Amendment to read, not public use, but public purpose.
Regulatory takings present an entirely different problem from eminent domain.
In regulatory takings governmental entities do not take possession of the property but regulate its use in ways that may diminish the use-value of the property or upset settled expectations for the use of property. The public purpose or public trust doctrine that the courts have developed is that no compensation is required unless the regulation reduces private property to no value whatsoever. Thus a regulation that reduces the value of property by only 80 or 90 percent deserves no compensation under the public trust doctrine because the property has not been reduced to zero value. Everyone knows about the regulations that have been established by state and local governments for property development. These are all barriers or conditions to the use or development of private property.