Provisions for compulsory taking of land outside the limits of the proposed public work:—
By a decree of March 26, 1852, it was enacted that: “In any plan for taking land for widening, relocating or laying out streets in Paris, the administration may include the whole of each lot affected, whenever it shall consider that the residue will not be of such size or shape as to allow the erection of wholesome constructions. It may also include in the taking lots outside of the street lines, whenever it is necessary to acquire them in order to discontinue former public streets which have been deemed useless. The portions of lots which have been taken outside of street lines and which are not capable of receiving wholesome constructions shall be united to the adjoining properties either by agreement or by the taking of those properties.”
In order to include in the taking any portion of a lot outside of the street lines, it is necessary, whenever this is practicable, that it should be included in the plan submitted to the preliminary inquiry; and in all cases such proposed takings must be shown on the detailed plan submitted to the second inquiry above referred to, and if the owners opposed the taking, and since 1876, even in the absence of opposition, the decree which determines the limits of such takings is rendered, not by the prefect, as in the case of the property included in the street lines, but by the council of State.
The provisions of law for uniting these portions of lots acquired outside of the street lines to the adjoining properties contemplate a careful appraisal of such portion, to determine its value to the adjoining owner under all the circumstances of the case, the offering of it to such owner at the appraisal value; and if he fails to accept the offer within a week from its receipt, the administration may proceed to take his property for the purpose of uniting the remnant to it, and then reselling the whole.
The provisions of this decree of March, 1852, originally passed for Paris only, have since been applied to most of the important cities of France.
Attention should be called to the fact that under the provisions of the law of April 13, 1850, all the land within fixed limits may be taken whenever required in order to abate a nuisance, or in the interest of works for the improvement of the public health, and the surplus, after completion of the works, sold at public auction.
It is stated, however, that in comparison with the law of March, 1852, that of April 13, 1850, has been rarely applied.
The law of Sept. 16, 1807, contains provisions for the assessment of betterments, according to which private property which has received a marked increase in value from the opening of new streets or squares, the construction of quais and other public works, may be assessed a betterment to the amount of one-half of such increase in value; but this can only be done by an order of the head of the State, passed in State council.
The amount of the tax is determined by a special commission formed for the purpose.
The power to assess such tax seems rarely to have been employed; it is said that not more than twenty instances of its exercise can be found in all France from the passage of the law up to 1886; and, although formerly applied in some instances to cases of street improvements in cities, it seems for the last fifty years, or since the enactment of March, 1852, above referred to, to have been employed only in cases where the special benefit was of an exceptional character, as when arising from the construction of levees, dikes or a series of quais.