The legal process by which eminent domain is exercised
Eminent domain is the power; condemnation is the proceeding. It establishes that the taking is for a public use and fixes the compensation owed. Where the government has effectively taken property without formally condemning it, the owner may bring an inverse condemnation action.
How the exam asks about it
A question that describes a road-widening project and asks what the process is called wants condemnation, not eminent domain — read whether it asks for the power or the procedure.
The government’s power to take private property for public use, paying just compensation
The power itself, held by government and by certain quasi-public bodies such as utilities. Its two limits are in the constitutional text: the taking must be for a public use, and the owner must receive just compensation.
How the exam asks about it
Tested against police power constantly. Both restrict what an owner may do with land; only eminent domain requires payment, because only eminent domain takes the property.
The state taking property left by an owner who died with no heirs and no will
Escheat exists so land never ends up with no owner at all. When someone dies intestate and no heir can be found, title passes to the state, which is the outcome the whole system of intestate succession is designed to avoid reaching.
How the exam asks about it
One of the four government powers, remembered as PETE: police power, eminent domain, taxation, escheat. Escheat is the one that requires no compensation because there is nobody left to compensate.
An owner’s action forcing government to pay for property it has effectively taken
Eminent domain run backwards. Government has filed no condemnation case, but its action — flooding land, cutting off access, regulating a parcel into uselessness — has taken the property in substance, and the owner sues to be paid for it.
How the exam asks about it
The direction of the lawsuit is the whole item. In condemnation the government moves first; in inverse condemnation the owner does.
Government authority to regulate land use for public health, safety and welfare
The constitutional basis for zoning, building codes, subdivision regulation and environmental controls. No compensation is owed for a valid exercise, however much it reduces what an owner may do, because nothing has been taken — only regulated.
How the exam asks about it
The exam’s favorite comparison. Zoning that halves what you may build is police power and pays nothing; taking a strip of your land for a road is eminent domain and pays.
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