United States v. Willow River Power Co., 324 U.S. 499 (1945) is a 1945 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court involving the question whether the United States was liable under the Fifth Amendment for a “taking” of private property for a public purpose when it built a dam on navigable waters that raised the water level upstream to lessen the head of water at a power company’s dam, thereby decreasing the production of power by the company’s hydroelectric turbines. The Court’s opinion is notable because it asks the question whether the courts will provide a remedy because a property right has been invaded or a property right exists because the courts will enforce it. This is a reformulation of the Euthyphro dilemma found in Plato's dialogue Euthyphro.
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