page_title: Compulsory purchase in England and Wales
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Compulsory purchase in England and Wales / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Watercolour showing the Surrey Iron Railway, the first public railway company, passing Chipstead Valley Road.
context_page_description: Compulsory purchase is the power to acquire rights over an estate in English land law, or to buy that estate outright, without the current owner's consent in return for compensation. In England and Wales, Parliament has granted several different kinds of compulsory purchase power, which are exercisable by various bodies in various situations. Such powers are "for the public benefit", but this expression is interpreted very broadly.
context_section_description: Although land may be acquired by consent, and conduct which raises another party's reasonable expectations, these private methods of acquiring land are often insufficient for adequate public regulation. Building national infrastructure, such as railways, housing, and sewerage, as well as democratically determined planning rules, either by national or local government, typically requires compulsory purchase, because private owners might not give up land required for public works except at an extortionate price. Historically, compulsory purchases were carried out under the Inclosure Acts and their predecessors, where enclosure was frequently a method of expropriating people from common land for the benefit of barons and landlords. In the industrial revolution, most railways were built by private companies procuring compulsory purchase rights from private Acts of Parliament, though by the late 19th century, powers of compulsory purchase slowly became more transparent and used for general social welfare, as with the Public Health Act 1875, or the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1885. Compulsory purchase legislation was significantly extended during World War One for military use, and after the war for housing, as certain principles became standardised.
caption: After the enclosure movement, the Surrey Railways Act 1801[1] used compulsory purchase to build the Surrey Iron Railway. Courts since have fought over the extent to which compulsory purchase is used for the public good.
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