Few aspects of real estate, property law, development, and construction have been as controversial as eminent domain law in recent years. Originally devised as a means of ensuring that communities had the right to have a say in the development and standard of living of residents in their bounds, some critics say that eminent domain laws have spiraled out of control in recent years, stampeding over the rights of individual property owners in order to pave the way for widespread commercial development. At the most basic level, the term "eminent domain" refers to the government's right to seize private property without the owner's consent, as long as proper monetary compensation is made. After a series of increasingly broad interpretations of eminent domain law by municipal governments in the 1990s and early 2000s, the issue reached a critical boiling point. In 2006, then-president George W. Bush issued an executive order limiting the power of the federal government to seize private property in eminent domain cases. However, because most of these incidents are undertaken at the state or municipal level, it is unclear whether this executive order will have a lasting effect.