Title 18, Property

(a) Unless otherwise agreed by the parties or determined by a court of law, the owner of private property may raise a defense or bring a cause of action in circuit court to determine whether his or her private property is lawfully being taken:(1) For a public use;(2) As blighted …

(a) (1) The right of eminent domain is granted to municipal corporations and to counties to condemn property for the purpose of parks, boulevards, and public buildings.(2) In case of municipal corporations, the parks and boulevards may be situated at a distance of not exceeding f…

(a) (1) In addition to the purposes for which counties are now authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain, counties are authorized to exercise that power for the purpose of acquiring property for water facilities and sewer facilities.(2) The counties shall exercise their …

(a) The right and power of eminent domain is conferred upon municipal corporations to enter upon, take, and condemn private property for the construction of wharves, levees, parks, squares, market places, or other lawful purposes. (b) (1) For waterworks systems, it shall be no ob…

(a) There shall be included in the award of compensation and damages for taking land occupied by a cemetery the reasonable cost of a new site of at least equal size. The new site shall be approved by the State Board of Health and also by the circuit court in which the condemnatio…

(a) (1) When it shall be deemed necessary by any municipal corporation to enter upon or take private property for a permitted purpose, an application in writing shall be made to the circuit court of the proper county, or the judge thereof in vacation, describing as correctly as m…

(a) If it appears to the court or judge that notice has been served ten (10) days before the time of application, or has been published as provided, and that the notice is reasonably specific and certain, then the court or judge may set a time for the inquiry into and assessment …

(a) The assessment shall be made on each lot or parcel of land separately and distributed to the owner of each tract, according to their true interest and ownership, on the order of the court. (b) (1) In case of dispute as to interest, title, or ownership, the money allowed there…

(a) The jury shall be sworn to make the whole inquiry and assessment but may be allowed to return a verdict, as to part, and be discharged as to the rest, at the discretion of the court. (b) In case the jury shall be discharged from rendering a judgment in whole or in part, anoth…

(a) As soon as the amount of compensation that may be due to the owners of the property taken, or to any of them, shall have been ascertained by the jury, the court shall make such order as to its payment or deposit as shall be deemed right and proper in respect to the time and p…

(a) In the event of the condemnation by a competent authority, for any public use or purpose, of all or substantially all of any land, buildings, or facilities acquired or constructed in whole or in part with the proceeds of revenue bonds issued under the provisions of the Munici…

(a) In addition to the purposes for which municipalities are now authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain, cities of the first class and cities of the second class are authorized to exercise such power for the purpose of acquiring real property or interests in real prop…

(a) A municipality operating a waterworks system under the provisions of this subchapter shall have the right to acquire any property useful for municipal waterworks purposes by following the eminent domain proceedings set forth in this subchapter. (b) A municipality's right of e…

For the purpose of making investigations, surveys, tests, and measurements, a municipality is authorized to enter upon any property by its agents, employees, or contractors. However, the municipality shall be liable for any damages to the owner's property resulting from its acts.

(a) (1) When the operating authority determines to condemn property, it shall file an application in the circuit court of the county where any portion of the property to be condemned is situated, and proceedings had in the court shall apply to all property described in the applic…

(a) At the trial of the cause, a jury shall assess the amount of damages the applicant shall pay for the property taken in the proceedings. (b) Thereafter, a judgment shall be entered stating that title to the property shall vest in the applicant upon payment to the clerk of the …

If any power, oil, or gas line or other public utility facility shall be flooded by an impounding lake, the property may be condemned if the operating authority of the municipal waterworks system determines the existence of the facility is inconsistent with the waterworks' requir…

(1) Water pipelines, with appurtenances, may be constructed and maintained:(1) Across and under lands and waters of the state, but the ordinary use of the lands and waters shall not be unduly obstructed thereby; and(2) (A) Under, across, and along public highways, roads, streets,…

(a) If any portion of a state or county road will lie below the high-water mark of an impounding lake, the operating authority of the municipal waterworks system shall have the right to flood the road. (b) However, if the state or the county determines that a replacement road is …

(a) (1) An operating authority of a municipal waterworks system shall file a notice of intent to condemn in the circuit court of the county where a cemetery or graves are situated if the operating authority determines that:(A) Land occupied by the cemetery or by the graves will b…

(a) (1) When the determination of questions in controversy in the eminent domain proceedings authorized in this subchapter is, in the opinion of the operating authority of the municipal waterworks, likely to retard the progress of the project, the municipality shall so state in i…

(a) If a municipality shall enter upon property which it has the right to acquire by condemnation proceedings without commencing condemnation proceedings, the owner of the property shall have the right to commence condemnation proceedings against the municipality at any time befo…

The right-of-way provided for under this section and §§ 18-15-502 — 18-15-509 shall be construed to include all lands necessary for dams and the backwater resulting therefrom, levees, approaches, abutments, canals, reservoirs, powerhouses, and other purposes incident to the busin…

No action to condemn the right-of-way over, upon, or along any street or alley in any city or incorporated town shall be instituted or maintained by an electric utility as against any city or incorporated town.

(a) (1) (A) An electric utility organized or domesticated under the laws of this state for the purpose of generating, transmitting, distributing, or supplying electricity to or for the public for compensation or for public use may construct, operate, and maintain such lines of wi…

(a) If an electric utility, having surveyed and located its line under the power conferred by this section, §§ 18-15-501 — 18-15-503, and §§ 18-15-505 — 18-15-509, fails to obtain, by agreement with the owner of the property through which the line may be located, the right-of-way…

In case of infants or persons of unsound mind, when no legal representative or guardian appears in their behalf at the hearing, it shall be the duty of the court to appoint a guardian ad litem who shall represent their interests for all purposes.

It shall be the duty of the court to impanel a jury of twelve (12) persons, as in other civil cases, to ascertain the amount of compensation which the electric utility shall pay, and the matter shall proceed and be determined as other civil causes.

(a) (1) The amount of damages to be paid the owner of the lands for the right-of-way for the use of the electric utility shall be determined and assessed irrespective of any other benefit that the owner may receive from any improvement proposed by the electric utility.(2) (A) If …

(a) When the determination of questions in controversy in the proceedings is likely to retard the progress of work on or the business of the electric utility, the court or judge in vacation shall designate an amount of money to be deposited by the electric utility, subject to the…

A person who destroys or injures the wire, cable, pole, dam, reservoir, canal, power house, machinery, or appliances therein of the electric utility is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than one tho…

(a) Every company authorized to construct hydroelectric dams in the State of Arkansas, when it becomes expedient or necessary to acquire a right-of-way for the purpose of constructing a railroad for use in connection with or to facilitate the construction of the dam, the companie…

The business of generating electricity, transmitting electricity, distributing electricity, or supplying electricity to or for the public for compensation or for public use is declared to be in the public interest.

(a) (1) As used in this subchapter, “electric utility” means a public utility, as defined in § 23-1-101, that owns or operates for compensation in this state equipment or facilities for producing, generating, transmitting, distributing, selling, or furnishing electricity or anoth…

(a) All municipal corporations in this state and all corporations, including not-for-profit corporations and water associations, which supply any town, city, or village in this state, or the inhabitants thereof, with water, or which supply water to rural customers or consumers, a…

(a) When a corporation in the construction of its waterworks, in extending its waterworks, or in making new lines of work shall deem it necessary, it may, as provided in this subchapter, draw water from any river, lake, creek, spring branch, or spring by means of pipes, ditches, …

(1) Whenever a corporation proposes to construct or extend the work or proposes to extend its line of works so as to connect with any river, lake, creek, spring branch, or spring and direct the water of any river, lake, creek, spring branch, or spring or body of water within its …

(a) (1) The municipal corporation or other corporation so intending and desiring to condemn, take, and use the real estate may present to the circuit court in and for the county in which the lands so proposed to be taken, condemned, and used are situated, a petition signed by the…

(a) The further proceedings in the matter of assessment of damages and the making of deposits to secure the owner shall be the same as is now prescribed by law in reference to condemnation proceedings by railroad, telegraph, and telephone corporations, except that the measure of …

Appeals may be taken by any party interested from the assessment and allotment of damages under the provisions of this subchapter.

(1) A person shall be guilty of a violation and fined for each and every offense in any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) if the person shall:(1) Tap the main or supply pipe of any water plant or company without first obtaining the permission of the proper city auth…

The inquest of the jury or the order and permission of the court founded thereupon shall not bar any prosecution or action, which any person would have had in law, had this subchapter not been passed, except for such injuries as were actually foreseen and estimated by the jury.

Any person who shall build or raise any dam or any other stoppage or obstruction in or across any watercourse without first obtaining permission from the proper court, according to law, and shall thereby work any material injury to any other person by overflowing his or her lands…

All dams, stoppages, or obstructions not made according to law shall be deemed to be public nuisances and shall be dealt with accordingly.

By proceeding as provided in this subchapter, any person may erect a dam across any watercourse not being a navigable stream if the person is the proprietor of the land through which the watercourse runs at the point where he or she proposes to erect his or her dam.

(a) If a dam is proposed to be erected pursuant to § 18-15-704, the person proposing to erect the dam, if it is likely to overflow any lands on the stream belonging to other persons, shall file his or her petition for that purpose in the circuit court of the county in which he or…