expropriation
noun · Enteignung
Expropriation, in the UK compulsory purchase, is Enteignung, the targeted deprivation of a concrete property position for the public good, Art. 14 Abs. 3 GG. It is lawful only by or under a statute that itself regulates the kind and extent of compensation, the Junktimklausel; without such a clause the expropriating law is unconstitutional.
Which translation, when
Why
Expropriation is Enteignung, and in a UK source the practical equivalent is compulsory purchase. Art. 14 Abs. 3 GG allows it only for the public good, only by or under a statute, and only where that statute itself regulates the kind and extent of the compensation. This last requirement, the Junktimklausel, is the point a translation must not lose: it is a condition of constitutionality, so a law that expropriates without settling compensation is void, and it follows from the Nassauskiesung decision that an owner faced with such a taking cannot merely accept it and sue for money but must attack the measure itself, on pain of losing both. The second point is the boundary between an Enteignung and an Inhalts- und Schrankenbestimmung under Art. 14 Abs. 1 Satz 2 GG: the former is the targeted, full or partial deprivation of a concrete property position to procure a good for a public task and is subject to the qualified reservation of Art. 14 Abs. 3 GG; the latter is the general and abstract definition of the content and limits of property and needs no compensation clause, though a disproportionate content definition may have to provide an Ausgleich to remain valid. The compensation for an Enteignung is fixed on a fair balancing of public and private interests, usually by reference to market value, and Art. 14 Abs. 3 Satz 4 GG opens the ordinary courts for disputes about its amount. So the word carries a strict compensation condition and a boundary that decides whether compensation is owed at all.
Typical mistakes
- The enabling statute must itself regulate the compensation, the Junktimklausel, Art. 14 Abs. 3 Satz 2 GG, so an expropriation law without a compensation clause is unconstitutional.
- Not every property burden is an Enteignung; a general Inhalts- und Schrankenbestimmung, Art. 14 Abs. 1 Satz 2 GG, needs no compensation clause, so equating the two overstates the compensation duty.
- Faced with an expropriation, the owner must challenge the measure and cannot merely accept it and sue for compensation, so presenting money as an automatic fallback is wrong.
What matters
Rendering a taking of property by the state, the translation should use Enteignung, note that it is lawful only for the public good and by or under a statute that itself regulates compensation, Art. 14 Abs. 3 GG, and keep it apart from a general Inhalts- und Schrankenbestimmung. For a UK source, compulsory purchase is the matching institution.
What the machine misses
Machine output renders expropriation as Enteignung but may drop the Junktimklausel and the boundary that decide the case. It loses that under Art. 14 Abs. 3 GG the enabling statute must itself regulate compensation, on pain of unconstitutionality, and that a general Inhalts- und Schrankenbestimmung under Art. 14 Abs. 1 Satz 2 GG is not an Enteignung and needs no compensation clause. The rendering hides both the compensation condition and whether compensation is owed.
Examples
| expropriation for the public good | Enteignung zum Wohle der Allgemeinheit |
| compulsory purchase of the land | Enteignung des Grundstücks |
| compensation for the expropriation | Entschädigung für die Enteignung |
| a content-and-limits provision on property | eine Inhalts- und Schrankenbestimmung des Eigentums |