We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
MARVIN M. BRANDT REVOCABLE TRUST V. UNITED STATES: TURNING A NATIONAL ASSET INTO A PRIVATE GAIN.
- Authors
Christian, Hannah
- Abstract
Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Congress gave connected strips of land to railroad companies for the purpose of constructing a railroad system across the United States. These strips of land are called rights-of-way. As railroad use declined in the early- to mid-twentieth century, railroad companies began to close their rail lines and abandon their rights-of-way. Thus, the question arose: Who owns the land underlying the railroad right-of-way, the United States or the private landowners who own the land adjacent to the right-of-way? In Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, the United States Supreme Court addressed this question and specifically ruled on the nature of the property interest the railroad companies held in these rights-of-way. Without addressing contradictory evidence or conflicting precedent, the Court held that railroad rights-of-way granted to railroad companies pursuant to the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875 are easements that will terminate upon abandonment by the railroad company and revert to the private landowner of the land underlying the right-of-way. In light of the significant historical context of these rights-of-way and the potential repercussions of this conclusion, the Court rendered a decision that will unjustly turn a national asset into a private benefit for individual landowners.
- Subjects
UNITED States; MARVIN M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States (Supreme Court case); RIGHT of way (Railroads); REAL property; RAILROAD companies; UNITED States. Supreme Court; LEGAL status of landowners; STATE statutes (United States); LAND grants; ACTIONS &; defenses (Law); HISTORY; REAL property -- Cases; LAW
- Publication
Denver University Law Review, 2015, Vol 92, Issue 2, p363
- ISSN
0883-9409
- Publication type
Article