A government regulation that deprives a property owner of the ownership, control, or all economic benefit from a property, without divesting the property owner of title.

Regulatory takings differ from eminent domain, which provides for the government's power to take private property for a public use. Regulatory takings limit the government's police power to enacting reasonable laws (such as zoning regulations) that further the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

When regulations enacted by the government prevent a property owner from making any beneficial use of a property, a court may find that the government has, effectively, taken the property. If a regulatory taking has occurred, the government must justly compensate the property owner.