te future,' * * * [but] 'mere possible
or imaginary uses, or the speculative schemes of its proprietor, are to
be excluded.'"[656] Damages are measured by the loss to the owner, not
by the gain to the taker;[657] and attorneys' fees and expenses are not
embraced therein.[658] "When the public faith and credit are pledged to
a reasonably prompt ascertainment and payment, and there is adequate
provision for enforcing the pledge, * * * the requirement of just
compensation is satisfied."[659]

Uncompensated Takings

"It is well settled that 'neither a natural person nor a corporation can
claim damages on account of being compelled to render obedience to a
police regulation designed to secure the common welfare.' * * *
Uncompensated obedience to a regulation enacted for the public safety
under the police power of the State is not a taking or damaging without
just compensation of private property, * * *"[660] Thus, the flooding
of lands consequent upon private construction of a dam under authority
of legislation enacted to subserve the drainage of lowlands was not a
taking which required compensation to be made, especially since such
flooding could have been prevented by raising the height of dikes around
the lands. "The rule to be gathered from these cases is that where there
is a practical destruction, or material impairment of the value of
plaintiff's lands, there is a taking, which demands compensation, but
otherwise where, as in this case, plaintiff is merely put to some extra
expense in warding off the consequences of the overflow."[661]
Similarly, when a city, by condemnation proceedings, sought to open a
street across the tracks of a railroad, it was not obligated to pay the
expenses that the railroad would incur in planking the crossing,
constructing gates, and posting gatemen at the crossing. The railway was
presumed to have "laid its tracks subject to the condition necessarily
implied that their use could be so regulated by competent authority as
to insure the public safety."[662] Also, one who leased oyster beds in
Hampton Roads from Virginia for $1 per acre under guaranty of an
"absolute right" to use and occupy them was held to have acquired such
rights subject to the superior power of Virginia to authorize Newport
News to discharge its sewage into the sea; and, hence could not
successfully contend that the resulting pollution of his oysters
constituted an uncompensated taking without due process of law.[663]