Hele v. United States

On February 27, 1909, Congress passed an Act (c. 224, 35 Stat. 658), providing for the leasing of lands in the Panama Canal Zone on condition that all leases “shall be made subject to the provision that if at anytime it shall become necessary, notwithstanding, for the United States to occupy or use any portion of the leased lands, it shall have the right to so do without further compensation to the lessee than for the reasonable value of the necessary improvements made upon his tracts by the lessee, the same to be determined by the courts of the Canal Zone.”

On March 21,1923, there was leased…