Intergenerational Condemnation

Justice between generations is a growing concern in land use, particularly in the areas of environmental and historic preservation. In this Article, Professor Gerdingen addresses the effect of this development on contemporary takings clause doctrine. He argues that conventional takings doctrine is comprised of four different causes of action that merely focus on intragenerational conflicts over the use of resources. As a result, part of the reason why the law generates so many hard cases in the area of environmental and historic preservation is that the conventional takings doctrine is unable to accommodate the justice between generations component of preservation issues. In response, he proposes the recognition of a new takings cause of action-that of intergenerational condemnation. The final portion of the Article sets forth a modified utilitarian model for an intergenerational condemnation cause of action