TAXATION: Inherent Powers of the State

 

20.   What is the concept of the power of eminent domain?

The power of eminent domain is the power of the state or those to whom the power has been delegated to take private property for public use upon paying the owner a just compensation to be ascertained according to law.

Conditions imposed by the Constitution:

1. The existence of public use or benefit for the taking;
2. The payment of just compensation
3. The observance of due process in the taking

21.   What is the concept of police power?

Police power has been referred to as the power of the state to enact such laws in relation to persons and property as may promote public health, public morals, public safety and the general prosperity and welfare of its inhabitants.

22.   What are the similarities among the three (3) inherent powers of the State and what are its distinctions?

(1)  They all rest upon necessity because there can be no effective government without them;

(2)  They all underlie and exist independently of the Constitution although the conditions for their exercise may be prescribed by the Constitution and by law;

(3)  They are ways by which the state interferes with private rights and property;

(4)  They are legislative in nature and character, although the actual exercise of the powers is given to the executive authorities, national or local; and

(5)  They all presuppose an equivalent compensation received, directly or indirectly, by the persons affected by the exercise of these powers by the government