Contact: Janet Harvey-Clark, MSU College of Law, (517) 432-6959; or Russ White, University Relations, (517) 355-2281, whiterus@msu.edu
11/10/2004
Michigan State University College of Law will host a half-day symposium, �The Death of Poletown: The Future of Eminent Domain and Urban Development after County of Wayne v. Hathcock,� from 1 to 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, at MSU�s Law College Building. The event is open to students, legal educators, legislators and practicing attorneys.
At the symposium, leading property law experts will speak about Hathcock�s impact in overruling the Michigan Supreme Court�s famous 1981 Poletown decision, which had insulated municipalities from judicial scrutiny of whether their condemnations of private property meet the constitutional requirement that this occur only for a �public use.� The result was an explosion in the use of eminent domain for private urban development. Panel discussions at the symposium will focus on eminent domain and its use in urban development under the new �public use� standard established in Hathcock.
�The Michigan Supreme Court�s decision in Poletown is famous for two reasons,� said Adam Mossoff, an assistant professor of law at MSU and the organizer of the conference. �First, it effectively eliminated the �public use� requirement in the eminent domain provision of the Michigan Constitution, and, second, it was the first such decision in the country, with the federal government following suit in 1984 with the U.S. Supreme Court�s Midkiff decision. Thus, the implications of Poletown�s reversal are tremendous.�
Panelists include Eric R. Claeys from St. Louis University School of Law; James W. Ely Jr. from Vanderbilt University; James E. Krier from University of Michigan Law School; Lee Anne Fennell from University of Illinois College of Law; William A. Fischel from Dartmouth College; and Ilya Somin from George Mason University School of Law.
In addition, Alan T. Ackerman of Ackerman & Ackerman, and Mischa M. Gibbons of Zausmer, Kaufman, August & Caldwell, two attorneys who worked for the opposing parties in Hathcock, will speak about their experiences in litigating the case.
MSU College of Law was founded as the Detroit College of Law in 1891. To extend its commitment to educational excellence, the college affiliated with MSU in 1995 and moved to MSU�s East Lansing campus in 1997. The move enabled the law college to build state-of-the-art facilities and to provide the benefits of a Big Ten campus.
MSU College of Law strengthened its affiliation with Michigan State University this year, becoming more closely aligned academically. The association between the two schools has led to a comprehensive interdisciplinary legal education program at the law college. Today, the college remains the nation�s oldest continually operating independent law school and one of only two private law schools to be affiliated with a research university.