ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the sources of compulsory purchase powers; apart from royal prerogative, they are all statutory in origin. The prerogative is the residue of powers in the hands of the Crown. Once the Crown had substantial powers, but from the time of William and Mary the prerogative power of the Crown has been exercised by the Crown’s ministers; it is a discretionary power exercised for the public good in certain spheres of activity for which Parliament has made no provision by statute. One of the reasons for obtaining statutory powers is to legalise compulsory purchase: a landowner need sell his land against his will unless compelled to do so by the law, though in practice the knowledge of the existence of compulsory purchase powers in the background is sufficient to persuade most owners to sell to an acquiring authority without the need for the ultimate sanctions of the law to be applied.
