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eminent domain definition - legal

n

The governmentÂ’s right, upon the payment of fair compensation, to seize privately held land for a public purpose, such as the widening of a highway, or the construction of a public building; the act of exercising such a right.

Webster's New World Law Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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