Property Rights
Simply put, property rights are laws enacted by the government to control uses and benefits of someone's property. These laws are fundamentally important to how society as a whole functions. If someone had purchased property but there were not rules enforced on them, how would you prevent the mistreatment of someone's property? How would you deal with squatters?
Associated with property rights are some rules that are enforced by the government over privately-owned land including: taxation, eminent domain, police power, and escheat.
Today, we're going to talk about eminent domain and how it hit close to home for a native Houstonian like me. Simply stated, eminent domain is when the government takes away private property for public use after paying them a fair amount for it. Well, that is exactly what happened when Interstate 10 was expanded on the west side of Houston. This freeway expansion included roughly 20 miles and included condemnation (using eminent domain) to take over 400 pieces of property.
Here is an article from The Houston Chronicle that explains the story in a little more detail:
http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/memorial-news/article/Katy-Freeway-expansion-bad-for-businesses-1536972.php
The issue here is the matter of the government paying these property owners an appropriate wage. Sometimes folks get the short end of the stick on the deal. For example, the owner of Photo Lab was only offered $20,000 for his property and numerous other businesses had to close their doors. On the other hand, you had people who just got greedy like the owners of the restaurant who would have been better off having taken the original deal from the Texas Department of Transportation.
Personally, I agree with eminent domain as it was used in this case. I live near I-10 about halfway in the middle of the project and traffic was absolutely horrible on that freeway, even when it wasn't rush hour. This project, although costly and perhaps a pain for some property/business owners, has paid off tenfold for the local Houstonians who use this freeway everyday.
Legal Descriptions
Legal Descriptions are a way to show exactly what someone owns when they say that they own property. There are three main ways to do this: the metes-and-bounds method, the rectangular survey system, and by using recorded plats.
The metes-and-bounds method uses a series of distances and directions to outline property. The metes are the distances used and the bounds are the directions of the boundaries around the land. Usually, an iron pin of some sort is driven into the ground at the corners of the property. Below is a picture of a metes-and-bounds description.
The rectangular survey system first began use after the Revolutionary War and was used to map most of the United States. This system is based on the principal meridians running north and south and the base lines running east and west. Below is an example of the what the US map looks like with principal meridians and base lines.
And lastly, we talk about the method of using recorded plats. These recorded plats are usually drawings of the land that are recorded for the official public record. This kind of property demarcation is mostly used in neighborhoods and subdivisions. Below is an example of a recorded plat.
Simply put, property rights are laws enacted by the government to control uses and benefits of someone's property. These laws are fundamentally important to how society as a whole functions. If someone had purchased property but there were not rules enforced on them, how would you prevent the mistreatment of someone's property? How would you deal with squatters?
Associated with property rights are some rules that are enforced by the government over privately-owned land including: taxation, eminent domain, police power, and escheat.
Today, we're going to talk about eminent domain and how it hit close to home for a native Houstonian like me. Simply stated, eminent domain is when the government takes away private property for public use after paying them a fair amount for it. Well, that is exactly what happened when Interstate 10 was expanded on the west side of Houston. This freeway expansion included roughly 20 miles and included condemnation (using eminent domain) to take over 400 pieces of property.
Here is an article from The Houston Chronicle that explains the story in a little more detail:
http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/memorial-news/article/Katy-Freeway-expansion-bad-for-businesses-1536972.php
The issue here is the matter of the government paying these property owners an appropriate wage. Sometimes folks get the short end of the stick on the deal. For example, the owner of Photo Lab was only offered $20,000 for his property and numerous other businesses had to close their doors. On the other hand, you had people who just got greedy like the owners of the restaurant who would have been better off having taken the original deal from the Texas Department of Transportation.
Personally, I agree with eminent domain as it was used in this case. I live near I-10 about halfway in the middle of the project and traffic was absolutely horrible on that freeway, even when it wasn't rush hour. This project, although costly and perhaps a pain for some property/business owners, has paid off tenfold for the local Houstonians who use this freeway everyday.
Legal Descriptions
Legal Descriptions are a way to show exactly what someone owns when they say that they own property. There are three main ways to do this: the metes-and-bounds method, the rectangular survey system, and by using recorded plats.
The metes-and-bounds method uses a series of distances and directions to outline property. The metes are the distances used and the bounds are the directions of the boundaries around the land. Usually, an iron pin of some sort is driven into the ground at the corners of the property. Below is a picture of a metes-and-bounds description.
Source: http://www.gg.uwyo.edu/media/maps/diagrams/metesBounds.gif
The rectangular survey system first began use after the Revolutionary War and was used to map most of the United States. This system is based on the principal meridians running north and south and the base lines running east and west. Below is an example of the what the US map looks like with principal meridians and base lines.
Source: http://www.socalofficerealestateblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/BLM%20map.bmp
Source: http://www.homewayhomes.com/images/neighborhoods/oak-Run-Plat.gif
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