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29 Wash. U. J. Urb. & Contemp. L. 39 (1985)
Anarchy Reigns Supreme

handle is hein.journals/waucl29 and id is 43 raw text is: ANARCHY REIGNS SUPREME MICHAEL M BERGER* INTRODUCTION As W.C. Fields once noted, there comes a time when one must grasp the bull by the tail and face the situation. Disregarding that practical advice, the United States Supreme Court-for the third time in five years-has found a way to not decide whether the constitutional just compensation guarantee requires gov- ernment agencies to compensate property owners when regulations un- reasonably restrict the use of private property.' Williamson County Regional Planning Commn. v. Hamilton Bank2 takes its place in the pantheon of indecision, alongside Agins v. City of Tiburon3 and San Diego Gas & Elec. Co. v. City of San Diego,4 as dem- onstrating that those learned in the ways of the law can always find a * J D. 1967, Washington University; LL.M. 1968, University of Southern California, Member, California, Missouri, and United States Supreme Court Bars. The author is a member of the Santa Monica, California law firm of Fadem, Berger & Norton. Agreeing with Justice Douglas that the reader should know through what spectacles his advisor is viewing the problem, and that private practitioners who may have axes to grind should so note when they enter the scholarly lists, the author notes that his practice consists of representing property owners in real property litigation. See Douglas, Law Reviews and Full Disclosure, 40 WASH. L. REV. 227, 228-230 (1965). A large portion of that litigation is against government agencies and an increasing amount of it deals with the consequences of excessive land use regulation. I. The fifth amendment just compensation clause was incorporated long ago into the due process guarantee of the fourteenth amendment, thus extending it to state and local government agencies. See Chicago B. & Q. R.R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U.S. 226 (1897) 2 105 S. Ct. 3108 (1985). 3 447 U.S. 255 (1980). 4 450 U.S. 621 (1981).

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