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<br />505 U.S. 1016 <br /> <br />LUCAS v. SOUTH CAROLINA .COASTAL COUNCIL <br />Cite as 112 S.Ct. 2886 (1992) <br /> <br />2893 <br /> <br />cation under the police power, "the natural' <br />tendency of human nature [would be] to ex- <br />tend the qualification more and more until at <br />last private property disappear[ed)." Id., at <br />415, 43 S.Ct., at 160. These considerations <br />gave birth in that case to the oft-cited maxim <br />that, "while property may be regulated to a <br />certain extent, if regulation goes too far it <br />will be recognized as a taking." Ibid. <br /> <br />[2] ..lJglsN evertheless, oUr decision in M a- <br />hon offered little insight into when, and un- <br />der what circumstances, a given regulation <br />would be seen as going "too far" for purposes <br />of the Fifth Amendment. In 70-0dd years of <br />succeeding "regulatory takings" jurispru- <br />dence, we have generally eschewed any " 'set <br />formula' " for determining how far is too far, <br />preferring to "engag[e] in . ~. essentially ad <br />hoc, factual inquiries." Penn.Central Trans- <br />porUJiicn Co. 11. New York city, 438 U.S. 104, <br />124, 98 S.Ct.. 2646, 2659, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 <br />(1978) (quoting Goldblatt 11. Hempstead, 369 <br />U.S. 590, 594, 828.Ct. 987, 990, 8 L.Ed.2d <br />130 (1962)). See Epstein, Tiilings: Descent <br />and Resurrection, 1987 S.Ct. Rev. 1, 4. We <br />have, however, described at least two dis- <br />crete categories of regulatory action as com- <br />pensable . wiUiout case-specific inquiry into <br />the public interest advanced in support of the <br />restraint. The first encompasses regulations <br />that compel the property owner to suffer a <br />physical "invasion" of his property. In gen- <br />eral (at least with regard to permanent inva- <br />sions), no matter how minute the intrusion, <br /> <br />6. We will not attempt to respond to all of Justice <br />BLACKMUN's mistaken citation of case prece. <br />dent. Chanicteristic of its nature is his assertion <br />that the cases we discuss here stand merely for <br />the proposition "that proof that a regulation does <br />not deny an owner economic uSe of his property <br />is sufficient to defeat a facial takings challenge" <br />and not for the point that "denial of such use is <br />sufficient to establish a takings claim regardless . <br />of any other consideration." Post, at 2911. n. 11. <br />The cases say, repeatedly and unmistakably, that <br />" '[t]he test to be applied in considering [a] facial <br />[takings] challenge is fairly straightforWard. A <br />statute -regulating the uses that can be made of <br />property effects a taking if it "denies an owner <br />economically viable use of his land."'" Key. <br />stone, 480 U.S., at 495, 107 S.Ct.. at 1247 (quot- <br /> <br />and no matter how weighty the public pur- <br />pose behind it, we have required compensa- <br />tion. For example, in Loretto 11. Tele. <br />prompter Manhattan CATV Corp., 458 U.S. <br />419, 102 S.Ct. 3164, 73 L.Ed.2d 868 (1982), <br />we determined that New York's law requir- <br />ing landlords to allow television cable compa- <br />nies to emplace cable facilities in their apart- <br />ment buildings constituted a taking, id., at <br />435-440,102 S.Ct., at 3175-3178, even though <br />the facilities occupied at most only H~ cubic <br />feet of the landlords' property, see id., at 438, <br />n. 16, 102 S.Ct., at 3177. See also United <br />States 11. Causby, 328 U.S. 256, 265, and n. <br />10,66 8.Ct. 1062, 1067, and n. 10, 90 L.Ed. <br />1206 (1946) (physical invasions of airspace); <br />cr. KaiBer Aetna 11. United States, 444 U.S. <br />164, 100 S.Ct. 383, 62 L.Ed.2d 332 (1979) <br />(imposition of navigational servitude upon <br />private marina). <br /> <br />The second situation in wlY,~ we have <br />found categorical treatment appropriate is <br />where regulation denies all economically ben- <br />eficial or productive use of land. See Agins, <br />447 U.S., at 260, 100 S.Ct.,at 2141; see also <br />Nollan 11. California Coastal Comm'n., 483 <br />U.S. 825, 834, 107 S.Ct. 3141, 3147, 97 <br />L.Ed.2d 677 (1987); Keystone Bituminous <br />Coal As8n. 11. DeBenedictis, 480 U.S. 470, <br />495, 107 S.Ct. 1232, 1247, 94 L.Ed.2d 472 <br />(1987); Hodel 11. Virginia Surface Mining & <br />Reclamaticn As8n., Inc., 452...IJg16U.S. 264, <br />295-296, 101 S.Ct. 2352, 2370, 69 L.Ed.2d 1 <br />(1981).6 As we have said on numerous occa- <br /> <br />ing Hodel, 452 U.S., at 295":296, 101 S.Ct., at <br />2370 (quoting Agins, 447 U.S., at 260, 100 S.Ct., <br />at 2141)) (emphasis added). <br /> <br />Justice BLACKMUN describes that rule (which <br />we do not invent but merely apply today) as <br />"a1ter[ing] the long.settled rules of review" by <br />foisting on the State "the burden of showing [its] <br />regulation is not a taking." Post, at 2909. This <br />is of course wrong. Lucas had to do more than <br />simply file a lawsuit to establish his constitution. <br />al entitlement; he had to show that the Beach- <br />front Management Act denied him economically <br />beneficial use of his land. Our analysis pre. <br />sumes the unconstitutionality of state land.use <br />; regulation only in the sense that any rule with <br />exceptions presumes the invalidity of a law that <br />