What constitutes an act of taking of foreign property in international law was once clear but has now come to be befuddled with difficulty as a result of the progressive expansion of the concept of taking. In the past, the law was discussed in the context of outright takings of the property of the alien. There was no difficulty in characterising the act of physical dispossession as a taking. After colonialism came to an end, there was a spate of nationalisations intended to regain control of the economy from the companies of the erstwhile colonial powers. After the initial rush of nationalisations, there was a movement away from the wholesale takings of industrial sectors to the targeting of specific companies. Developing countries instituted changes regarding the manner of entry of foreign investment. There was greater administrative control over investment. The vehicle of foreign investment was often a mandatory joint-venture company incorporated in the host state. The company became a corporate citizen of the host state and thus more amenable to its control. The process of foreign investment itself came to be enmeshed in a host of regulations which directed it to economic development objectives and environmental protection. In this context, the notion of what constituted a taking had to change. The focus was on the manner of governmental interference with the contracts on the basis of which the original investment was made or on the running of the corporate vehicle through which the investment was made.