the right of a state to appropriate the property of its citizens for public uses. This right is akin to the state's right to take property by taxation. It does not lead to confiscation, since it is always done through the forms of the law, always for the public good and usually for compensation. It is far more common in the United States than in any other country. Congress, with whom the power lies, is limited, in its exercise, by several clauses of the Constitution, which declare that no person shall be deprived of property "without due process of law," and that "private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation." The several states, which also possess the right of eminent domain, are also usually limited by similar provisions in their constitutions. The purposes for which the right may be exercised are many, according to the decisions of the courts, including not only improvements under the direction of the government, but the enterprises of persons in a private or semi-public capacity, such as railroads, bridges and ferries,