EMINENT DOMAIN 



2026 



EMPIRE 



interfere with the plans of the troops of the 

 emigres, and on the twentieth of April France 

 declared war on Austria. The French army 

 had little discipline, for most of the generals 

 belonged to the nobility who had fled with the 

 emigres, so the Austrians gained an easy vic- 

 tory. When Napoleon became consul in 1799 

 he allowed all emigres to return, but many did 

 not go back until his downfall. When the 

 Charter of 1814 was adopted, on the restoration 

 of the Bourbons, they were not allowed to 

 regain their estates or former privileges, nor 

 were they ever fully restored. 



EM'INENT DOMAIN', the right of the na- 

 tion or a state or province, or of public service 

 corporations to whom the power has been 

 lawfully given, to condemn private property 

 for public use. The ownership and possession 

 of such property is then appropriated to the 

 announced public use after the owner is paid 

 due compensation, to be ascertained accord- 

 ing to law. 



When a railroad surveys for a right of way 

 and a property owner refuses to sell his land 

 through which the survey runs, the railroad 

 may appeal to the courts. An appraiser is 

 appointed who names a reasonable price at 

 which the property owner must sell, or a jury 

 determines the price in what are known as 

 condemnation proceedings. In like manner 

 city land is taken for public schools, asylums, 

 municipal buildings, etc. This authority of 

 the state to compel the property owner to sell 

 his land for public purposes is known as the 

 right oj eminent domain. 



The constitutional laws of the United States 

 and Canada provide that no person can lose 

 his property by eminent domain except it be 

 taken for public use, by due process of law, 

 and for just compensation. The phrase "pub- 

 lic use" has been liberally interpreted by the 

 courts to include not only public improve- 

 ments carried on by the state, such as the 

 construction of harbors, canals, fortifications, 

 etc., but also semi-private enterprises in which 

 the public has an interest, as railroads, bridges, 

 mills, etc. The most extended application of 

 the right of eminent domain possibly in the 

 world's history was the determination in 1915 

 to destroy the village of Osborn, Ohio, in 

 order to build a vast reservoir to receive flood 

 waters and prevent a recurrence of the great 

 flood which devastated Eastern Ohio in 1913. 

 The state paid the people of Osborn $1,500,000 

 for their property and for the expense involved 

 in founding new homes elsewhere. M.R.T. 



EMIN PASHA, a'meen pa show' (1840- 

 1892), an African explorer and surgeon, who 

 was made pasha, or governor, of the equato- 

 rial provinces in the Southern Sudan in 1878 

 by General Gordon; this position he held 

 for eleven years. He was born of Jewish par- 

 ents at Oppeln, Prussia, his real name being 

 EDOUARD SCHNITZER. After receiving his degree 

 in medicine at Konigsberg, he was appointed 

 surgeon in the Turkish army, where he adopted 

 the name Emin, meaning faithful one. In 

 1876 he entered the Egyptian service, and in 

 1883 the uprisings of the dervishes under the 

 Mahdi cut off his country from the civilized 

 world, until Stanley reached him in 1888. He 

 could not be persuaded to leave his people, 

 but in the following year they deposed him 

 and he returned to Egypt. A little later he 

 went on an exploring expedition for the Ger- 

 man East Africa Company and was assassi- 

 nated by two Arabs. See STANLEY, HENRY 

 MORTON. 



EMMET, em'et, ROBERT (1778-1803), an Irish 

 patriot, born in Dublin. He was a fellow stu- 

 dent with Thomas Moore at Trinity College, 

 and afterwards spent some time on the Con- 

 tinent, where he tried to interest Napoleon 

 and Talleyrand in his effort to free Ireland 

 from English rule. Upon his return to Ireland 

 he led an unsuccessful revolt against the Eng- 

 lish viceroy in Dublin Castle. He escaped, but 

 returned a few days later to visit his sweet- 

 heart, Sarah Curran, when he was arrested, 

 tried, condemned and hanged. His speech just 

 before his execution is considered a brilliant 

 example of fiery patriotism. His attachment 

 to Miss Curran inspired Moore's famous poem, 

 She is Far from the Land Where Her Young 

 Hero Sleeps. 



EM'PEROR, an imperial title, first used by 

 Julius Caesar in 58 B. c., which is to-day 

 given to the supreme ruler of an empire. It 

 originated in the Latin term imperator, mean- 

 ing general, by which the military governors 

 of provinces were known. Up to the fifth cen- 

 tury the Roman rulers used the title, and in 

 800 Charlemagne revived it as the name of 

 the sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire. 

 In 1804, just before that empire came to an 

 end, the last ruler, Francis II, declared him- 

 self hereditary emperor of Austria. Peter the 

 Great of Russia had assumed the title in 1721, 

 and the king of Prussia was crowned emperor 

 of united Germany in 1871. 



EMPIRE, em 'pyre, a term used to denote a 

 country of vast extent, whose ruler is usually 



