Cite as: 519 U. S. 234 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
II, 96 Stat. 2517. Section 207 of the ILCA—the "escheat" provision—prohibited the descent or devise of small fractional interests in allotments. 96 Stat. 2519.1 Instead of passing to heirs, such fractional interests would escheat to the tribe, thereby consolidating the ownership of Indian lands. Congress defined the targeted fractional interest as one that both constituted 2 percent or less of the total acreage in an allotted tract and had earned less than $100 in the preceding year. Section 207 made no provision for the payment of compensation to those who held such interests.
In Hodel v. Irving, this Court invalidated § 207 on the ground that it effected a taking of property without just compensation, in violation of the Fifth Amendment. 481 U. S., at 716-718. The appellees in Irving were, or represented, heirs or devisees of members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. But for § 207, the appellees would have received 41 fractional interests in allotments; under § 207, those interests would escheat to the Tribe. Id., at 709-710. This Court tested the legitimacy of § 207 by considering its economic impact, its effect on investment-backed expectations, and the essential character of the measure. See id., at 713-718; see also Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City, 438 U. S. 104, 124 (1978). Turning first to the economic impact of § 207, the Court in Irving observed that the provision's income-generation test might fail to capture the actual economic value of the land. 481 U. S., at 714. The Court next indicated that § 207 likely did not interfere with investment-backed expectations. Id., at 715. Key to the decision in Irving, however, was the "extraordinary" character of the
1 As originally enacted, § 207 provided: "No undivided fractional interest in any tract of trust or restricted land within a tribe's reservation or otherwise subjected to a tribe's jurisdiction shall descedent [sic] by intestacy or devise but shall escheat to that tribe if such interest represents 2 per centum or less of the total acreage in such tract and has earned to its owner less than $100 in the preceding year before it is due to escheat." 96 Stat. 2519.
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