Davis v. City of Lubbock

This direct appeal involves certain basic constitutional questions regarding the validity of the Texas Urban Renewal Law. 1 The most difficult questions before us are (1) whether the condemnation of property under the Act constitutes a taking for a “public use,” and (2) the validity of the “trial de novo” provision of the Act which, as applicable here, would require an independent trial in court on the question of whether the area to be cleared as in fact a slum as defined in the Act.

1 The general purpose of the Urban Renewal Law is to provide for the clearance of slum and blighted areas in…