context: In turn, Section 10 of the same Article provides "nor shall private property be taken or applied to public use, without authority of law and without just compensation being first made or secured." Pa. Const. Article I, Section 10. Considered together, these passages embody the underlying sanctity of private property ownership enjoyed by the citizens of this Commonwealth, which yields only in the face of public interest.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.identifier: 55 Pa. 16, 25
citation_a.parenthetical: "The right of the Commonwealth to take private property without the owner's assent on compensation made, or authorized it to be taken ... can never be lawfully exercised but for a public purpose -- supposed and intended to benefit the public, either mediately or immediately"
citation_a.sentence: See Appeal of Lance, 55 Pa. 16, 25 (Pa.1867) (“The right of the Commonwealth to take private property without the owner’s assent on compensation made, or authorized it to be taken ... can never be lawfully exercised but for a public purpose — supposed and intended to benefit the public, either mediately or immediately”). Indeed, as early as 1871, this Court recognized that “[i]t has become, then, a fundamental axiom of constitutional law, not only in this, but in every other state of this Union, that the legislative power cannot, either directly or indirectly, without the consent of the owner, take private property for merely private use, with or without compensation.”
citation_b.signal: see also
citation_b.identifier: 88 A. 489, 489
citation_b.parenthetical: stating that "fwjhile the Constitution does not in express terms deny the right to take property for a private use under the power of eminent domain, the plain implication is that the power can only be exercised when the property taken is for a public use"
citation_b.sentence: Palairet’s Appeal, 67 Pa. at 486 (emphasis supplied); see also Philadelphia Clay, 88 A. at 489 (stating that “fwjhile the Constitution does not in express terms deny the right to take property for a private use under the power of eminent domain, the plain implication is that the power can only be exercised when the property taken is for a public use”).