ART. 26.-1. The Expropriation Law of August 28, 1851, as last amended April 15, 1886, is hereby amended by adding thereto a Title IV. to be called "Expropriation in the Interest of the Housing of the People"-and to read as follows:

ART. 77. Without a previous statutory declaration of public utility, expropriation may occur in the interest of the housing of the people for the following purposes:

(1) To clear lots for which, because of insufficient access of light and air or the lack of other necessities for dwelling purposes, an adequate improvement on account of the location of the building or its connection with other buildings can in other ways with difficulty if at all be attained.

(2) To remove one or more dwellings whose adequate improvement as to their situation or connection with one another or with other dwellings or other buildings can with difficulty if at all be attained.

(3) To remove one or more dwellings which, whether suited or intended for residence or not, prevent dwellings next or near them from being put into condition suitable for residential purposes.

(4) To obtain control over lots, whether built upon or not, in order that an established building plan in the interest of the housing of the people or an extension plan proposed under sec. 6 of the housing law may be carried out.

In the above named cases expropriation shall be in accordance with the provisions of the following articles:

*Summarized.

Enacted June 22, 1901; amended in particulars not important in this connection in 1902, 1903, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1913, 1915, 1917, 1919; for the law and the amendments to it, in Dutch, see the session laws of the years named. A translation into German of the entire law will be found in the Proceedings of the Sixth International Housing Congress, Düsseldorf, 1902, p. 425. A good account of the law and housing and planning in Holland generally, with a German translation of the entire law, is given by Rudolph Eberstadt in his Neue Studien (Gustav Fischer, 1914), Vol. 2, p. 359.

ART. 78. Both the municipality and societies, joint stock corporations and foundations whose activities are confined exclusively to the improvement of housing and who are authorized thereto by the Crown, after hearing the Provincial Committee, may avail themselves of the right of expropriation.

The conditions for granting such permission shall be fixed by the state.

ART. 79. Except as provided in art. 87, expropriation in the interest of the housing of the people occurs on resolution of the City Council, with Royal ratification, after hearing the upper or executive branch of the City Council. *(Here follow procedural provisions.)

ART. 87. When the city council refuses the request for expropriation by a society or foundation, the petitioner may apply to the Crown. *(Here follow procedural provisions.)

ART. 93. When the building to be expropriated is declared unfit for habitation, an estimate shall be made of the value of the land and of the building materials, if the building cannot be used for any other purpose. When the building can be used for other than residential purposes, the amount paid shall be the value of the land and of the building materials plus the amount that seems just in consideration of the additional advantages which the owner could have obtained from such a use. In this connection art. 92 applies.

When only a part of the building to be expropriated is declared. unfit for habitation, this fact shall be taken into consideration in arriving at the value. The fact that the part declared unfit for habitation is or is not still fit for other uses, shall also be considered.

ART. 94. When a demand under art. 14 of the Housing Law has been made for improvements without result, then the value to be paid shall be that of the building as it would have been if improved less the cost of making the improvements.

When the building is occupied by a greater number of persons than is lawful under local ordinances, the increase of rents by reason of such excess shall not be taken into account.

ART. 27.-1. The City Council is authorized in the interest of systematic building development to forbid buildings to be erected or reërected in a place that by previous resolution of the City Council is destined in the near future to be a street, canal or square.

2. In a resolution containing a prohibition against building it shall be stated what parts of the land belonging to one owner the prohibition includes; and if the prohibition covers more than 3 of his land included in the plan, the reasons are to be given why purchase or expropriation does not occur at once.

* Summarized.

etc.

*3.-6. Appeal, notice, opportunity for inspection, confirmation,

ART. 28. In municipalities containing more than ten thousand inhabitants and those whose population has increased more than 1/5 in the last five years, the City Council, subject to ratification by the Provincial Committee, shall establish an extension plan, in which the land shall be indicated that is destined in the near future for streets, canals or squares.

2. The plan shall be revised at least once in every ten years.

3. The extension plan and the plans for its revision shall be submitted to the Provincial Committee. From a refusal to ratify it the City Council, and from its ratification private parties interested, may appeal to the Crown within a month.

*4.-6. Notice, opportunity for inspection, etc.

* 7. Issuance of regulations to carry these provisions into effect.

* Summarized.

CHAPTER II.

PLANNING ADMINISTRATION IN ENGLAND, CANADA AND FRANCE

Planning in England Prior to 1909.-Before 1909 there was little planning law in England. No provisions existed for the preparation of community plans, or, if made, for their adoption as a rule of action for the authorities; nor for the protection of projects for the future construction of streets and other public features from the encroachment of the land owners affected. Under the housing acts, however, slum areas could be condemned and reconstructed, and by special acts streets were sometimes widened and additional land taken by excess condemnation.

Public control over private developments was slight. The Public Health Acts 1 empowered the local authorities outside of London to pass byelaws of more importance in housing than in planning. These byelaws were subject to confirmation by the Local Government Board-a national authority 2-but once duly confirmed could not be modified or abrogated by it. Under such byelaws the local authorities could regulate the amount of open space around houses, limit their height, establish building lines in certain cases and determine the width of streets. It was not until 1907 that, subject to many limitations, the direction of these streets could be fixed in this way; nor could the owner (except under the special provisions of one or two city charters) be required to submit a plan of the proposed development of his tract as a whole. In London

'Originally passed in 1848, ch. 63. The reference is to the act of 1875, ch. 55, sec. 157 (see also sec. 155) as amended by the Health Amendment Acts of 1890, ch. 59, and 1907, ch. 53; see also Public Health (Buildings in Streets) Act, 1888.

These duties are now performed by the Ministry of Health; see 9 and 10 Geo. V., ch. 21.

and a number of other cities planning was governed by special acts which were not materially in advance of those in force elsewhere.

English Planning Act of 1909-1919.-In 1909 England passed her first systematic planning act. In 1919 it was amended in many particulars, and is here summarized in its amended form. Perhaps the most important change in the law of 1909 made in 1919 is that, while formerly the preparation and adoption under it of plans by local authorities was permissive, it is now mandatory on all urban authorities who on January 1, 1923, have a population of 20,000 or over.3

Purpose of Act.-The English act is so different from all the others that before taking it up in detail it may be well briefly to consider its general purpose. In other planning acts the unit is the entire city. It is quite true that under these systems parts of cities are regulated by plans made at different times, and that all planning should be varied in different localities to suit local conditions; it is quite true that, in Italy and Germany, where cities are more solidly built than in Great Britain or on this side of the Atlantic, the plans are generally "extension" plans, for the development of districts not yet built up and the laws are framed with that fact in view; but invariably, except in England, there is, in existence or in prospect, a plan of the city as a whole, of which the sectional plans form a part, and a planning law applicable to it all, under which it can all be regulated. In England the planning unit is a selected section of the city, and there is no general plan with any legal force or planning law applicable to the entire city. It is the special area only which is planned, under a scheme especially devised for it, in effect an act of Parliament, which overrides "any statutory enactments, byelaws, regulations or other provisions under whatever authority made, which are in operation" in the city as a whole. Within that area contemplated improvements are protected; outside it there is not and cannot be any such protection. Within that area land owners and

The French mandatory city planning law was passed a few months before the English mandatory provisions, referred to above, were enacted. *Act of 1909, Part II, 55- (2).