Freespace

Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!

I’m not finished reading all the opinions in the Wayne County case, but here’s the real meat of it:

Every business, every productive unit in society, does, as Justice COOLEY noted, contribute in some way to the commonweal. To justify the exercise of eminent domain solely on the basis of the fact that the use of that property by a private entity seeking its own profit might contribute to the economy’s health is to render impotent our constitutional limitations on the government’s power of eminent domain. Poletown’s “economic benefit” rationale would validate practically any exercise of the power of eminent domain on behalf of a private entity. After all, if one’s ownership of private property is forever subject to the government’s determination that another private party would put one’'s land to better use, then the ownership of real property is perpetually threatened by the expansion plans of any large discount retailer, “megastore,” or the like....

(slip op. at 45) Of all the cases I’ve worked on, I’m proudest of this one. Congratulations to attorney Alan Ackerman, the lead counsel for the property owners, who has done a bang-up job vindicating the Constitutional rights of all Michiganders!

Victory!

I was delighted to learn that the Michigan Supreme Court has overruled the Poletown case in Wayne County v. Hathcock, in which I filed an amicus brief. I’ve not read the decision yet, but more to come, I’m sure.

Update: Here is the decision. (Very long PDF).

Ancient wisdom

The question of damages is peculiarly within the province of the jury, and should be settled by them, under proper instructions from the court, in accordance with the dictates of conscience and of common sense, giving to the plaintiff the just measure of compensation for the unlawful injury he has sustained, but remembering always that generosity is not a virtue when dealing with the property of others.

Cashion v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 31 S.E. 493, 494 (N.C. 1898) (emphasis added).

(Thanks to Andrew.)

No harm, no foul

A “phony minister.” Yeah, as opposed to all those real ministers, who really can perform miracles, fill you with the holy spirit, bless your marriage, et cetera.

So. Cal.

Blogging is difficult from here, since my parent's computer is a pocket caculator glued to a cel-phone. So, maybe more later.

Goin’ fishin’

I will be out this weekend, visiting the folks in Southern California and attending the Eric Clapton concert at the Hollywood Bowl. (Huckleberry is staying with his mama for the weekend.) So there will be no Libertarian Bookworm. I don’t know if I’ll be blogging from So. Cal. or not.

Huck still needs no permit

I’ve mentioned before that I would like to sail down the Mississippi River on a raft, Huck Finn style. Here’s a handy website for anyone sharing that dream.

Renommée!

Merci beaucoup pour la chaînon (link?) sur Baptiste Coulmont. Je n’ai pas lu Williams v. Attorney General of Alabama, mais Je le lirai quand je peux et commenterai ici. (Can you tell that I took French in high school, and have forgotten most of it since?)

Garrison

I have my differences with William Lloyd Garrison. In his dispute with Frederick Douglass, he was clearly in the wrong. His accomplishments are vastly overrated by historians, I think. But he was clearly on the right side of the great moral crisis of his century, and unflinchingly so. So I was pleased to see him honored in this post by annika. You can learn more about Garrison in the very good biography, All on Fire by Henry Mayer.

By the way, Garrison wasn’t just a great Christian libertarian, he was also a great newspaper man, who produced, with almost no staff, a weekly newspaper every single week for over thirty years, including during the Civil War. According to Mayer, Garrison was such a good newspaper man that he would actually write on the composing stick, without having to write out a manuscript by hand. I can’t imagine such a thing.

More?! You want More?!

Common sense on the Atkins quackery is hard to come by, but here’s some, courtesy of Unlearned Hand.