1064
Stevens, J., dissenting
tion [of value.] So the question depends upon the particular facts." Id., at 413.
Nor does the Court's new categorical rule find support in decisions following Mahon. Although in dicta we have sometimes recited that a law "effects a taking if [it] . . . denies an owner economically viable use of his land," Agins v. City of Tiburon, 447 U. S. 255, 260 (1980), our rulings have rejected such an absolute position. We have frequently— and recently—held that, in some circumstances, a law that renders property valueless may nonetheless not constitute a taking. See, e. g., First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. County of Los Angeles, 482 U. S. 304, 313 (1987); Goldblatt v. Hempstead, 369 U. S. 590, 596 (1962); United States v. Caltex, 344 U. S. 149, 155 (1952); Miller v. Schoene, 276 U. S. 272 (1928); Hadacheck v. Sebastian, 239 U. S. 394, 405 (1915); Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 623, 657 (1887); cf. Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co., 467 U. S. 986, 1011 (1984); Connolly v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 475 U. S. 211, 225 (1986). In short, as we stated in Keystone Bituminous Coal Assn. v. DeBenedictis, 480 U. S. 470, 490 (1987), " 'Although a comparison of values before and after' a regulatory action 'is relevant, . . . it is by no means conclusive.' "
In addition to lacking support in past decisions, the Court's new rule is wholly arbitrary. A landowner whose property is diminished in value 95% recovers nothing, while an owner whose property is diminished 100% recovers the land's full value. The case at hand illustrates this arbitrariness well. The Beachfront Management Act not only prohibited the building of new dwellings in certain areas, it also prohibited the rebuilding of houses that were "destroyed beyond repair by natural causes or by fire." 1988 S. C. Acts 634, § 3; see also Esposito v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 939 F. 2d 165, 167 (CA4 1991).2 Thus, if the homes adjacent to Lucas'
2 This aspect of the Act was amended in 1990. See S. C. Code Ann. § 48-39-290(B) (Supp. 1990).
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