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City of Enid7/5/2005
ew certain subjects from the Legislative power to enact special and local laws even if notice were provided.
What are the general, local, and special laws prohibited by constitutions during this era? One author stated that the phrase "general law" in state constitutions was not capable of a simple and exact definition. Charles C. Binney, Restrictions upon Local and Special Legislation in State Constitutions, 21-22 (1894). Typically, courts would state that a general law was not designed for particular persons, because a law designed for particular persons is a prohibited special law. Id. at 22. Additionally, they would state that a general law is not designed for particular localities, because a law designed for particular localities is a prohibited local law. Id. at 22. But courts of this era also recognized that a definition stating what a general law is not could not be sufficient, by itself, and could not be applied as a bright-line rule to decide the issue of whether a particular act was general or special. Id. at 22-23.
Courts recognized that a general law "is not necessarily universal, i.e., capable of operating upon all persons or all things within the state legislated for." Id. at 22.
"Are we then to understand that a general law is only one which operates upon all persons or all things? If so, it is obvious that our general laws are very few, if, indeed, there any of that class. Obviously such cannot be the meaning of the words 'of a general nature' as here used [in the constitution]. The word general comes from genus, and relates to the whole genus or kind, or in other words to a whole class or order. Hence a law which affects a class of persons or things less than all may be a general law:"
Binney, Restrictions upon Local and Special Legislation in State Constitutions, at 22 n. 3, quoting, Brooks v. Hyde, 37 Cal. 366, 375 (1869).
A law need not possess universal application to satisfy the definition of a "general law," but the Court's opinion today holds otherwise. It holds that a statute regulating the affairs of municipalities is local and special in character unless every municipality in the state comes within the scope of the statute. Universality in application was only a part of a definition of local and special laws, but importantly, universality in application was not by itself a sufficient reason to make a statute unconstitutional. See, for example, State ex rel. Van Riper v. Parsons, 40 N.J.L. 1, 11 Vroom 1, (Sup.Ct.1878), where the court said that " he term 'general law' does not import universality in the subject or operation of such law." In other words, while it is true that a law that operates universally in a state is a "general law," a law is not necessarily special or local because it operates less than universally.
In pre-1900 special-law and local-law jurisprudence, a legislature generally possessed power to create law that discriminated in some circumstances between the municipalities in a particular state.
The immediate effect of the prohibition is to prevent any legislation from being passed directly and expressly in regard to any one or more particular corporations, the intention of the Constitution being that whatever powers any corporation should have for the purpose of its corporate existence should be granted on the same terms to all similar corporations, but the legislature is allowed to judge both as to what differences exist between corporations and what powers they shall possess. It cannot, however, discriminate between corporations of the same kind. All railroad companies must have the same powers; all cities where the same circumstances exist must have the same form of gover
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