just compensation

Just compensation is the payment the government must provide under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause when it takes private property for public use through eminent domain. The amount is generally the property’s fair market value, determined by what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller. The purpose of just compensation is to place the property owner in as good a financial position as if the property had not been taken.

[Last reviewed in September of 2025 by the Wex Definitions Team] 

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