Nectow v. City of Cambridge
42°21′20″N 71°06′35″W / 42.35553°N 71.10967°W
| Nectow v. City of Cambridge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued April 19, 1928 Decided May 14, 1928 | |
| Full case name | Nectow v. City of Cambridge |
| Citations | 277 U.S. 183 (more) 48 S. Ct. 447; 72 L. Ed. 842 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Appeal from Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts |
| Holding | |
| The governmental power to interfere by zoning regulations with the general rights of the land owner by restricting the character of his use cannot be imposed if it does not bear a substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinion | |
| Majority | Sutherland, joined by unanimous |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. XIV | |
Nectow v. City of Cambridge, 277 U.S. 183 (1928), was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the practise of zoning and its effects on property rights.
The Supreme Court reversed a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling and found the invasion of the plaintiff's property rights were "serious and highly injurious," by new city zoning ordinance, and that the placement of the locus of the zoning ordinance would not promote the health, safety, convenience or general welfare of inhabitants.[1] Nectow v. City of Cambridge, along with Euclid v. Ambler, was an early and influential case regarding the relatively new practice of zoning, and constituted the Supreme Court's case law on zoning until 1974.[2]
Facts
[edit]In 1860, Alvan Clark & Sons purchased a tract of land in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on which they built a telescope lens manufacturing plant and two family homes. Cambridge, like other American cities at the time, did not have a zoning code restricting economic activity to specific districts, allowing the Clarks to put residential and industrial facilities in the same tract. To the west of the Clark family homes was the residential district of Cambridgeport. To the south, the Ford Motor Company built the Cambridge Assembly plant in 1913. During the Clarks' tenure, the lens factory was one of many local industrial businesses.
In 1920, Saul Nectow purchased the entire 140,000-square-foot (3.2-acre) tract from the Clark sons when they moved the family business. Nectow had no specific plan for the site, but intended to resell the property to a new enterprise for redevelopment.[3]
The City of Cambridge established its first zoning ordinance in 1924, which restricted the portion of the Nectow property occupied by the Clark family homesteads to residential uses. A purchaser had agreed to buy the entire tract from Nectow, but reneged on the offer when the new zoning encumbered the residential portion of the tract. Nectow sought to enjoin the city for a regulatory taking that reduced the value of his property.
References
[edit]- ^ Nectow v. City of Cambridge, 277 U.S. 183, 188 (1928).
- ^ Tarlock, A. Dan (January 1982). "Euclid Revisited". Land Use Law and Zoning Digest. 34: 4–8. doi:10.1080/00947598.1982.10395481 – via Hein Online.
- ^ Fischel, William A. (2014). "From Nectow to Koontz: The Supreme Court's Supervision of Land-Use Regulation". doi:10.2139/ssrn.2471906. SSRN 2471906. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
External links
[edit]- Text of Nectow v. City of Cambridge, 277 U.S. 183 (1928) is available from: Justia Library of Congress
- Case Brief is available from CaseBriefs.com
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