I would not like to prolong this correspondence unnecessarily but, in his letter of December 16, Joe Izzo calls on me personally to explain the assumptions of a willing buyer and a willing seller in expropriation proceedings.

These assumptions in our law are also present in British legislation and are meant to ensure real market value and avoid serious distortions in value due to the powers of the State on one side or the undue pretensions of the owners on the other. The State does not establish the price, which is decided by an independent authority.

A deterrent for either side is that the apportionment of expenses is determined on the basis of the difference between the claimed value and the board’s decision.

The State, of course, has the whiphand in establishing certain rules such as deciding which land qualifies as a building site or is to be considered as rural land or wasteland as the case may be.

This rule has been severely abused of when large tracts of land were expropriated for home ownership schemes many years ago. The valuer is helpless in such cases and has to take such rules on board.

It is not always a level playing field. Perhaps a constitutional case is called for.