Groundwater Case

58 BVerfGE 300 (1981)

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Groundwater Case

West Germany Federal Constitutional Court
58 BVerfGE 300 (1981)

Facts

The federal government of West Germany (defendant) enacted the Water Resources Act to protect public water supplies from contamination. The act prohibited certain activities that impacted the quantity or quality of groundwater. A property owner (plaintiff) owned a gravel pit near Münster, West Germany, and used groundwater while mining for gravel. Under the act, the property owner needed to acquire a permit from the government to continue using groundwater. The property owner argued that this permitting system constituted a taking of his property contrary to Article 14 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. The lower court, the Federal Court of Justice, found that the property owner’s property rights under § 905 of the Civil Code included the groundwater on his property and that the act therefore violated the property owner’s property rights. The Federal Court of Justice also concluded that § 903 of the Civil Code allowed property owners to use their property in every possible and economically reasonable manner and that the act impermissibly infringed upon this right. The Federal Court of Justice concluded that the government’s restriction on the property owner’s use of groundwater amounted to an expropriation of property. The federal government appealed the matter to the Germany Federal Constitutional Court.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)

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