Note 627 — AMENDMENT 14 (continued 3)

Exercisable as to every description of property, tangibles and intangibles including choses in action, contracts, and charters, but only for a public purpose, the power of eminent domain may also be conferred by the State upon municipal corporations, public utilities, and even upon individuals. Like every other governmental power, the power of eminent domain cannot be surrendered by the State or its subdivisions either by contract or by any other means.—Long Island Water Supply Co. v. Brooklyn, 166 U.S. 685 (1897); Offield v. New York, N.H. & H.R. Co., 203 U.S. 372 (1906); Sweet v. Rechel, 159 U.S. 380 (1895); Clark v. Nash, 198 U.S. 361 (1905); Pennsylvania Hospital v. Philadelphia, 245 U.S. 20 (1917); Galveston Wharf Co. v. Galveston, 260 U.S. 473 (1923).