Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/260/393/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 23:01:43+00:00

Document:
A regulation that severely diminishes the value of private property amounts to a taking and requires compensation, although deference should be given to the legislature, and a case-by-case evaluation is required.
In a deed that transferred real estate from Pennsylvania Coal to Mahon, the company reserved the mineral rights on the property while Mahon waived the right to receive damages for the removal of minerals or to object to their removal. The company later chose to exercise its rights under the deed, but Mahon argued that this would violate the Kohler Act. This law had been enacted after the deed and prohibited mining activities that would cause the subsidence of a home.
Mahon sought an injunction against the company, which was granted by the lower court. The company appealed under the theory that the injunction was an unconstitutional taking of property under the Fifth Amendment.
Ruling that the Kohler Act was unconstitutional, Holmes argued that the public interest in protecting Mahon's surface rights did not warrant completely eradicating the property right to the minerals that the coal company had expressly reserved in the deed. He acknowledged that the state's police power may result in some interference with property rights, but the balance of interests weighed heavily in favor of the property owner in this situation.
Since the property technically had not changed owners or been taken by the state, Brandeis felt that the Fifth Amendment was not implicated here. He argued that the state had the right to prevent socially undesirable uses of property, such as mining on land where a home stands.
This case used the diminution of value standard for determining whether a government action constituted a taking, and it was one of the first instances in which the Supreme Court addressed a situation in which virtually all value was removed from the property as a result. Although more recent cases have developed this line of doctrine further, the decision is still cited as an example of when a government goes too far in imposing restrictions on the land.
1. One consideration in deciding whether limitations on private property, to be implied in favor of the police power, are exceeded, is the degree in which the values incident to the property are diminished by the regulation in question, and this is to be determined from the facts of the particular case. P. 260 U. S. 413.
2. The general rule, at least, is that, if regulation goes too far, it will be recognized as a taking for which compensation must be paid. P. 260 U. S. 415.
3. The rights of the public in a street, purchased or laid out by eminent domain, are those that it has paid for. P. 260 U. S. 415.
4. Where the owner of land containing coal deposits had deeded the surface with express reservation of the right to remove all the coal beneath, the grantees assuming the risk and waiving all claim to damages that might arise from such mining, and the property rights thus reserved, and contracts made, were valid under the state law, and a statute, enacted later, forbade mining in such a way as to cause subsidence of any human habitation or public street or building, etc., and thereby made commercially impracticable the removal of very valuable coal deposits still standing unmined, held, that the prohibition exceeded the police power, whether viewed as a protection to private surface owners or to cities having only surface rights, and contravened the rights of the coal owner under the Contract Clause of the Constitution and the Due process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. * P. 260 U. S. 413.
Error to a decree of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, for the defendants in error, in their suit to enjoin the Coal Company from mining under their property in such a way as to remove supports and cause subsidence of the surface and of their house.
This is a bill in equity brought by the defendants in error to prevent the Pennsylvania Coal Company from mining under their property in such way as to remove the supports and cause a subsidence of the surface and of their house. The bill sets out a deed executed by the Coal Company in 1878, under which the plaintiffs claim. The deed conveys the surface, but, in express terms, reserves the right to remove all the coal under the same, and the grantee takes the premises with the risk, and waives all claim for damages that may arise from mining out the coal. But the plaintiffs say that, whatever may have been the Coal Company's rights, they were taken away by an Act of Pennsylvania, approved May 27, 1921, P.L. 1198, commonly known there as the Kohler Act. The Court of Common Pleas found that, if not restrained, the defendant would cause the damage to prevent which the bill was brought, but denied an injunction, holding that the statute, if applied to this case, would be unconstitutional. On appeal, the Supreme Court of the State agreed that the defendant had contract and property rights protected by the Constitution of the United States, but held that the statute was a legitimate exercise of the police power, and directed a decree for the plaintiffs. A writ of error was granted bringing the case to this Court.
things, any structure used as a human habitation, with certain exceptions, including among them land where the surface is owned by the owner of the underlying coal and is distant more than one hundred and fifty feet from any improved property belonging to any other person. As applied to this case, the statute is admitted to destroy previously existing rights of property and contract. The question is whether the police power can be stretched so far.
Government hardly could go on if, to some extent, values incident to property could not be diminished without paying for every such change in the general law. As long recognized, some values are enjoyed under an implied limitation, and must yield to the police power. But obviously the implied limitation must have its limits, or the contract and due process clauses are gone. One fact for consideration in determining such limits is the extent of the diminution. When it reaches a certain magnitude, in most if not in all cases, there must be an exercise of eminent domain and compensation to sustain the act. So the question depends upon the particular facts. The greatest weight is given to the judgment of the legislature, but it always is open to interested parties to contend that the legislature has gone beyond its constitutional power.
the public interest is shown by the statute to be limited, since the statute ordinarily does not apply to land when the surface is owned by the owner of the coal. Furthermore, it is not justified as a protection of personal safety. That could be provided for by notice. Indeed, the very foundation of this bill is that the defendant gave timely notice of its intent to mine under the house. On the other hand, the extent of the taking is great. It purports to abolish what is recognized in Pennsylvania as an estate in land -- a very valuable estate -- and what is declared by the Court below to be a contract hitherto binding the plaintiffs. If we were called upon to deal with the plaintiffs' position alone, we should think it clear that the statute does not disclose a public interest sufficient to warrant so extensive a destruction of the defendant's constitutionally protected rights.
But the case has been treated as one in which the general validity of the act should be discussed. The Attorney General of the State, the City of Scranton, and the representatives of other extensive interests were allowed to take part in the argument below, and have submitted their contentions here. It seems, therefore, to be our duty to go farther in the statement of our opinion, in order that it may be known at once, and that further suits should not be brought in vain.
we think that we are warranted in assuming that the statute does.
It is true that, in Plymouth Coal Co. v. Pennsylvania, 232 U. S. 531, it was held competent for the legislature to require a pillar of coal to the left along the line of adjoining property, that with the pillar on the other side of the line would be a barrier sufficient for the safety of the employees of either mine in case the other should be abandoned and allowed to fill with water. But that was a requirement for the safety of employees invited into the mine, and secured an average reciprocity of advantage that has been recognized as a justification of various laws.
The rights of the public in a street purchased or laid out by eminent domain are those that it has paid for. If in any case its representatives have been so short sighted as to acquire only surface rights without the right of support, we see no more authority for supplying the latter without compensation than there was for taking the right of way in the first place and refusing to pay for it because the public wanted it very much. The protection of private property in the Fifth Amendment presupposes that it is wanted for public use, but provides that it shall not be taken for such use without compensation. A similar assumption is made in the decisions upon the Fourteenth Amendment. Hairston v. Danville & Western Ry. Co., 208 U. S. 598, 208 U. S. 605. When this seemingly absolute protection is found to be qualified by the police power, the natural tendency of human nature is to extend the qualification more and more, until at last private property disappears. But that cannot be accomplished in this way under the Constitution of the United States.
whether they do not stand as much upon tradition as upon principle. Bowditch v. Boston, 101 U. S. 16. In general, it is not plain that a man's misfortunes or necessities will justify his shifting the damages to his neighbor's shoulders. Spade v. Lynn & Boston R.R. Co., 172 Mass. 488, 489. We are in danger of forgetting that a strong public desire to improve the public condition is not enough to warrant achieving the desire by a shorter cut than the constitutional way of paying for the change. As we already have said, this is a question of degree -- and therefore cannot be disposed of by general propositions. But we regard this as going beyond any of the cases decided by this Court. The late decisions upon laws dealing with the congestion of Washington and New York, caused by the war, dealt with laws intended to meet a temporary emergency and providing for compensation determined to be reasonable by an impartial board. They were to the verge of the law, but fell far short of the present act. Block v. Hirsh, 256 U. S. 135; Marcus Brown Holding Co. v. Feldman, 256 U. S. 170; Levy Leasing Co. v. Siegel, 258 U. S. 242.
The statute is entitled: "An act regulating the mining of anthracite coal; prescribing duties for certain municipal officers; and imposing penalties."
"so to conduct the operation of mining anthracite coal as to cause the caving-in, collapse, or subsidence of (a) any public building or any structure customarily used by the public as a place of resort, assemblage, or amusement, including, but not being limited to, churches, schools, hospitals, theatres, hotels, and railroad stations; (b) any street, road, bridge, or other public passageway dedicated to public use or habitually used by the public; (c) any track, roadbed, right of way, pipe, conduit, wire, or other facility used in the service of the public by any municipal corporation or public service company as defined by the Public Service Company Law; (d) any dwelling or other structure used as a human habitation, or any factory, store, or other industrial or mercantile establishment in which human labor is employed; (e) any cemetery or public burial ground."
Sections 2 to 5, inclusive, place certain duties on public officials and persons in charge of mining operations to facilitate the accomplishment of the purpose of the act.
"shall not apply to [mines in] townships of the second class [i.e., townships having a population of less than 300 persons to a square mile], nor to any area wherein the surface overlying the mine or mining operation is wild or unseated land, nor where such surface is owned by the owner or operator of the underlying coal and is distant more than one hundred and fifty feet from any improved property belonging to any other person."
Section 7 sets forth penalties, and § 8 reads: "The courts of common pleas shall have power to award injunctions to restrain violations of this act." P.L. 1921, p. 1198.
"as to cause the . . .
subsidence of . . . any dwelling or other structure used as a human habitation, or any factory, store, or other industrial or mercantile establishment in which human labor is employed."
Coal in place is land, and the right of the owner to use his land is not absolute. He may not so use it as to create a public nuisance, and uses, once harmless, may, owing to changed conditions, seriously threaten the public welfare. Whenever they do, the legislature has power to prohibit such uses without paying compensation, and the power to prohibit extends alike to the manner, the character, and the purpose of the use. Are we justified in declaring that the Legislature of Pennsylvania has, in restricting the right to mine anthracite, exercised this power so arbitrarily as to violate the Fourteenth Amendment?
Every restriction upon the use of property imposed in the exercise of the police power deprives the owner of some right theretofore enjoyed, and is, in that sense, an abridgment by the state of rights in property without making compensation. But restriction imposed to protect the public health, safety or morals from dangers threatened is not a taking. The restriction here in question is merely the prohibition of a noxious use. The property so restricted remains in the possession of its owner. The state does not appropriate it or make any use of it. The state merely prevents the owner from making a use which interferes with paramount rights of the public. Whenever the use prohibited ceases to be noxious -- as it may because of further change in local or social conditions -- the restriction will have to be removed and the owner will again be free to enjoy his property as heretofore.
like dangers? In the latter case, as in the former, carrying on the business would be a public nuisance.
it appears that to restrict its mining operations was an unreasonable exercise of the police power. Compare Reinman v. Little Rock, 237 U. S. 171, 237 U. S. 177, 237 U. S. 180; Pierce Oil Corporation v. City of Hope, 248 U. S. 498, 248 U. S. 500. Where the surface and the coal belong to the same person, self-interest would ordinarily prevent mining to such an extent as to cause a subsidence. It was, doubtless, for this reason that the legislature, estimating the degrees of danger, deemed statutory restriction unnecessary for the public safety under such conditions.
and, likewise, to supersede, by an Employers' Liability Act, the provision of a charter exempting a railroad from liability for death of employees, since the civil liability was deemed a matter of public concern, and not a mere private right. Texas & New Orleans R.R. Co. v. Miller, 221 U. S. 408. Compare Boyd v. Alabama, 94 U. S. 645; Stone v. Mississippi, 101 U. S. 814; Butchers' Union Co. v. Crescent City Co., 111 U. S. 746; Douglas v. Kentucky, 168 U. S. 488; Pennsylvania Hospital v. Philadelphia, 245 U. S. 20, 245 U. S. 23. Nor can existing contracts between private individuals preclude exercise of the police power. "One whose rights, such as they are, are subject to state restriction cannot remove them from the power of the state by making a contract about them." Hudson Water Co. v. McCarter, 209 U. S. 349, 209 U. S. 357; Knoxville Water Co. v. Knoxville, 189 U. S. 434, 189 U. S. 438; Rast v. Van Deman & Lewis Co., 240 U. S. 342. The fact that this suit is brought by a private person is, of course, immaterial. To protect the community through invoking the aid, as litigant, of interested private citizens is not a novelty in our law. That it may be done in Pennsylvania was decided by its Supreme Court in this case. And it is for a state to say how its public policy shall be enforced.
"(a) Any public building or any structure customarily used by the public as a place of resort, assemblage, or amusement, including, but not limited to, churches, schools, hospitals, theaters, hotels, and railroad stations."
"(b) Any street, road, bridge, or other public passageway, dedicated to public use or habitually used by the public. "
"(c) Any track, roadbed, right of way, pipe, conduit, wire, or other facility, used in the service of the public by any municipal corporation or public service company as defined by the Public Service Law."
A prohibition of mining which causes subsidence of such structures and facilities is obviously enacted for a public purpose, and it seems likewise clear that mere notice of intention to mine would not in this connection secure the public safety. Yet it is said that these provisions of the act cannot be sustained as an exercise of the police power where the right to mine such coal has been reserved. The conclusion seems to rest upon the assumption that, in order to justify such exercise of the police power, there must be "an average reciprocity of advantage" as between the owner of the property restricted and the rest of the community, and that here such reciprocity is absent. Reciprocity of advantage is an important consideration, and may even be an essential, where the state's power is exercised for the purpose of conferring benefits upon the property of a neighborhood, as in drainage projects, Wurts v. Hoagland, 114 U. S. 606; Fallbrook Irrigation District v. Bradley, 164 U. S. 112; or upon adjoining owners, as by party wall provisions, Jackman v. Rosenbaum Co., ante, 260 U. S. 22. But where the police power is exercised not to confer benefits upon property owners but to protect the public from detriment and danger, there is, in my opinion, no room for considering reciprocity of advantage. There was no reciprocal advantage to the owner prohibited from using his oil tanks in 248 U. S. 248 U.S. 498; his brickyard, in 239 U. S. 239 U.S. 394; his livery stable, in 237 U. S. 237 U.S. 171; his billiard hall, in 225 U. S. 225 U.S. 623; his oleomargarine factory, in 127 U. S. 127 U.S. 678; his brewery, in 123 U. S. 123 U.S. 623; unless it be the advantage of living and doing business in a civilized community. That reciprocal advantage is given by the act to the coal operators.

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