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Special Municipal Legislation in Iowa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
Extract
The Iowa constitution of 1857 was one of the first to prohibit the passage of special laws for cities and towns. Section 30 of Article III of the constitution enumerates six subjects upon which the legislature is forbidden to pass any special act; the fourth of which proscribes the passage of any act “For the incorporation of cities and towns.” The same section also declares that “In all the cases above enumerated, and in all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, all laws shall be general, and of uniform operation throughout the state.” In addition to these provisions Section 6 of Article I of the Bill of Rights requires that “All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation; the general assembly shall not grant to any citizen or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens.”
Just what prompted the convention which drafted the constitution of 1857 to declare against special legislation for cities and towns is not clear. The proceedings of the convention do not disclose any debate upon the provision when adopted. The experience of other states may have impressed the constitution makers of Iowa with the evils arising from the unlimited exercise of powers over municipalities by legislative bodies, but that these evils had manifested themselves seriously in Iowa as early as 1857 is almost beyond belief. In 1856 the total population of Iowa was only 517,875 and this was largely rural. The federal census of 1860 shows but two cities in the state with a population above 10,000 and these were both under 15,000.
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- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1920
References
1 See Hull's, Historical and Comparative Census, 1836–1880 (Iowa), p. xliv.Google Scholar
2 Cf. McBain's, The Law and the Practice of Municipal Home Rule, pp. 68 and 74.Google Scholar
3 Constitution of Iowa, 1846, Art. IX, sec. 2.
4 Code of Iowa, 1897, sec. 631.
5 Robeson, , Special Municipal Charters in Iowa, 1838–1868, in Iowa Journal of History and Politics, Vol. 18, p. 174.Google Scholar
6 Laws of Iowa (Extra Session), 1856, p. 51.
7 Robeson, Special Municipal Charters in Iowa, 1856–1858, op. cit., p. 175.
8 Dillon's, Municipal Corporations (fifth edition), Vol. 1, pp. 245–246.Google Scholar
9 Laws of Iowa, 1858, ch. 88, p. 152.
10 Ex parte Samuel Pritz, 9 Iowa 30.
11 Davis v. Woolnough, 9 Iowa 104.
12 Tuttle v. Polk, 92 Iowa 433.
13 Laws of Iowa, 1917, ch. 140.
14 Supplemental Supplement to the Code of Iowa, 1915, ch. 14-d, p. 86.
15 Laws of Iowa, 1917, ch. 131.
16 Ibid., 1919, ch. 168, p, 191.
17 Ibid., 1919, ch. 155, p. 178.
18 Ibid., 1919, ch. 288, p. 383.
19 Supplemental Supplement to the Code of Iowa, 1915, sec. 850, p. 72.
20 Laws of Iowa, 1917, ch. 400, p. 429.
21 Ibid., 1919, ch. 101, p. 111.
22 Dillon's, Municipal Corporations (fifth edition), Vol. 1, p. 253.Google Scholar
23 Supplemental Supplement to the Code of Iowa, 1915, sec. 2033-g, p. 175.
24 Laws of Iowa, 1919, ch. 111, p. 117.
25 Ibid., 1919, ch. 245, p. 294.
26 96 Iowa 521; Laws of Iowa, 1890, p. 3.
27 State of Iowa v. City of Des Moines, 96 Iowa 538.
28 Warren v. Henly, 31 Iowa 31.
29 Town of McGregor v. Baylies, 19 Iowa 43.
30 Ind. School District v. Burlington, 60 Iowa 500.
31 Haskel v. the City of Burlington, 30 Iowa 232.
32 State v. King, 37 Iowa 462.
33 Laws of Iowa, 1858, ch. 157, sec. 111, p. 390. This Iowa act was referred to in the Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1869–70, in the debate on provisions to prohibit special legislation.
34 Code of Iowa, 1897, sec. 1047, p. 400.
35 Von Phul v. Hammer, 29 Iowa 222.
36 Ex parte Samuel Pritz, 9 Iowa 30.
37 The City of Clinton v. The Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad Company, 24 Iowa 455.
38 Was 16,178 in 1910.
39 Supplemental Supplement to Code of Iowa, 1915, sec. 741-d, p. 62.
40 Supplement to the Code of Iowa, 1913, sec. 747-b, p. 260.
41 Supplemental Supplement to the Code of Iowa, 1915, sec. 997-c, p. 81.
42 Tuttle v. Polk, 92 Iowa 433.
43 Supplement to the Code of Iowa, 1918, sec. 713-a, p. 232.
44 Owen v. Sioux City, 91 Iowa 190.
45 Hubbard's, “Special Legislation for Municipalities,” in the Harvard Law Review, Vol. 18, p. 593.Google Scholar
46 Dillon's, Municipal Corporations (fifth edition), Vol. 1, p. 253.Google Scholar
47 Hubbard's, “Special Legislation for Municipalities” in the Harvard Law Review, Vol. 18, p. 602.Google Scholar
48 The bill proposed to grant cities authority to exercise all powers of local self-government subject to such specific restrictions as to particular powers as now are or may hereafter be established by law. It also provided that no enumeration of powers in any law should operate to restrict this general grant of power, or to exclude other powers comprehended within the grant.
Two amendments were adopted on the floor of the senate: First, no city was to be allowed to incur any debt or levy any taxes unless specifically authorized by law, and second, a construction clause providing that nothing in the law should be construed as repealing any of the police powers of the state, and that all laws enacted by the state should be binding on all municipalities and municipal officers.
After the adoption of these amendments the bill was defeated as noted above.
49 Senate Journal (Iowa), 1915, p. 1501.
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