Cite as: 524 U. S. 156 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
by the deposited funds. We held that the statute authorizing the clerk to confiscate the earned interest violated the Takings Clause. As we explained, "a State, by ipse dixit, may not transform private property into public property without compensation" simply by legislatively abrogating the traditional rule that "earnings of a fund are incidents of ownership of the fund itself and are property just as the fund itself is property." 449 U. S., at 164. In other words, at least as to confiscatory regulations (as opposed to those regulating the use of property), a State may not sidestep the Takings Clause by disavowing traditional property interests long recognized under state law. See id., at 163-164; see also Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U. S. 1003, 1029 (1992).
Petitioners nevertheless contend that Webb's does not control because Texas does not, in fact, adhere to the "interest follows principal" rule, "at least if elevated to the level of an absolute legal rule." Brief for Petitioners 22. They point to several examples, such as income-only trusts and marital community property rules, where under Texas law interest does not follow principal. According to petitioners, the IOLTA program is simply another exception to the general rule.
We find these examples insufficient to dispel the presumption of deference given the views of a federal court as to the law of a State within its jurisdiction. Bernhardt v. Polygraphic Co. of America, 350 U. S. 198, 204 (1956). Petitioners' examples miss the point of our decision in Webb's. Texas' exception of income-only trusts and certain marital property from the general rule that "interest follows principal" has a firm basis in traditional property law principles. Permitting the owner of a sum of money to distribute to a designated beneficiary the interest income generated by his principal is entirely consistent with the fundamental maxim of property law that the owner of a property interest may dispose of all or part of that interest as he sees fit. United
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