Courts sometimes adopt highly counterintuitive interpretations of words. In 2022, a California court notoriously ruled that bees qualify as fish. Today, in Sojenhomer v. Village of Egg Harbor, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin ruled that a sidewalk is not a “pedestrian way.” They thereby enabled local governments to use eminent domain to condemn property to build sidewalks, despite a state law forbidding the use of eminent domain to take property for “pedestrian way[s].” The close 4-3 decision might become a staple of law school textbooks.
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It may seem obvious that a sidewalk is, in fact, a pedestrian way. Indeed, as the court notes, the relevant statute defines a “pedestrian way” as “a walk designated for the use of
pedestrian travel.” That seems to pretty obviously include sidewalks! You don’t have to be a property scholar like me to see that.