Nectow v. City of Cambridge

{{Infobox SCOTUS case

|Litigants=Nectow v. City of Cambridge

|ArgueDate=April 19

|ArgueYear=1928

|DecideDate=May 14

|DecideYear=1928

|FullName=Nectow v. City of Cambridge

|USVol=277

|USPage=183

|ParallelCitations=48 S. Ct. 447; 72 L. Ed. 842

|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.

|Majority=Sutherland

|JoinMajority=unanimous

|LawsApplied=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.{{ussc|name=Nectow v. City of Cambridge|volume=277|page=183|pin=188|year=1928}}. 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.{{Cite journal|last=Tarlock|first=A. Dan|date=January 1982|title=Euclid Revisited|journal=Land Use Law and Zoning Digest|volume=34|pages=4–8|doi=10.1080/00947598.1982.10395481 |via=Hein Online}}

Facts

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 {{convert|140000|sqft|acres|adj=on}} 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.{{cite web |last=Fischel |first=William A. |title=From Nectow to Koontz: The Supreme Court's Supervision of Land-Use Regulation |date= 2014 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2471906 |ssrn=2471906 |url = https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2471906 |access-date = 15 November 2023}}

The City of Cambridge established its first zoning ordinance in 1924. The new ordinance restricted the Nectow property, occupied by the Clark family homesteads, to residential uses. A purchaser had agreed to buy the entire tract from Nectow, but withdrew the offer when the new zoning encumbered the residential portion of the tract. Nectow sued to enjoin the city for a regulatory taking that reduced the value of his property.

References

External links

{{caselaw source

| case = Nectow v. City of Cambridge, {{Ussc|277|183|1928|el=no}}

| justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/277/183/

| loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep277/usrep277183/usrep277183.pdf

}}

Case Brief is available from [https://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/property/property-law-keyed-to-cribbet/introduction-to-the-traditional-land-use-controls/nectow-v-city-of-cambridge/ CaseBriefs.com]

Category:1928 in United States case law

Category:United States Supreme Court cases

Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Taft Court

Category:United States land use case law

Category:Zoning in the United States

Category:Takings Clause case law

Category:History of Cambridge, Massachusetts