750
Opinion of Souter, J.
sound as to direct condemnation and so require recognition of the very jury right that we have previously denied. This perception was apparent to the Court of Appeals in this case, when it wrote (erroneously) that "both eminent domain and inverse condemnation actions resemble common-law actions for trover to recover damages for conversion of personal property, and detinue and replevin." 95 F. 3d 1422, 1427 (CA9 1996). The Court of Appeals, indeed, cited Beatty v. United States, 203 F. 620 (CA4 1913), as does the plurality, ante, at 717, in which the Fourth Circuit held that the landowner in a direct condemnation proceeding had a Seventh Amendment right to a jury determination of just compensation:
"The taking of property by condemnation under the power of eminent domain is compulsory. The party is deprived of his property against his will. . . . The analogy to a suit at common law for trespass is close and complete, and it is for that reason presumably the Supreme Court of the United States, acting on the definition of a suit at common law previously indicated by it, has decided that a proceeding by the United States to condemn lands for public purposes is a suit at common law. If so it be, then it would follow that the defendant, if he claims it, is entitled at some stage in the proceeding to have his damages assessed by a jury." 203 F., at 626.
The plurality's analogy, if accepted, simply cannot be confined to inverse condemnation actions alone, and if it is not so confined it runs squarely against the settled law in the field of direct condemnation.
B
In addition to the plurality's direct tort analogy, the Court pursues a different analytical approach in adopting Justice Scalia's analogy to § 1983 actions seeking legal relief, see ante, at 709. Justice Scalia begins with a more sweeping
Page: Index Previous 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007