NY Const, art I, § 7 · Article I. Bill of Rights
Just compensation for taking private property; private roads; drainage of agricultural lands
Text — Law content up to date as of June 5, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 7. (a) Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.
(c) Private roads may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law; but in every case the necessity of the road and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the opening thereof shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders, and such amount, together with the expenses of the proceedings, shall be paid by the person to be benefited.
(d) The use of property for the drainage of swamp or agricultural lands is declared to be a public use, and general laws may be passed permitting the owners or occupants of swamp or agricultural lands to construct and maintain for the drainage thereof, necessary drains, ditches and dykes upon the lands of others, under proper restrictions, on making just compensation, and such compensation together with the cost of such drainage may be assessed, wholly or partly, against any property benefited thereby; but no special laws shall be enacted for such purposes.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of June 5, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/CNSA1S7
- Text hash
- sha256 5a6a0aba2df2e0ff0c93f2f0af39dbc687c57f5fd3ca40d0501b0986d83f85b0
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.