Homeowner Rights and Hot Dog Sellers Are Talk of Court

[groovedaddy]

WASHINGTON — If you are the owner of beachfront property and the state comes along and widens the beach, do you own the new land or does the state?

In an argument studded with references to spring break, amusement parks and hot dog vendors, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struggled with that issue.

The main question in the case was whether the Florida Supreme Court violated the Constitution’s takings clause in a decision last year when, as a lawyer for the owners put it, it turned “oceanfront property into ocean-view property.”

The takings clause says the government may not take private property for public use without just compensation. The Supreme Court has never ruled on whether a court’s interpretation of state law can amount to a taking.

But much of the argument on Wednesday leapfrogged that threshold question and concerned the nature and value of the property rights retained by six affected property owners in the Florida Panhandle.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/us/03scotus.html?_r=1&th&emc=th