Charter Amending Powers of Cities under Michigan Home-Rule Legislation

Authors

Robert R. Jacobson, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Abstract

The recent development in Michigan of the idea of home-rule for cities and villages makes the relation of municipal to state government there a matter of particular interest at the present time. The constitution of 1908 provided that the legislature should pass general laws giving to cities and villages the power to construct their own charters.1 The next two assemblies both attempted to frame statutes in accord with this general provision, 2 but the decisions of the Supreme Court in a number of important cases showed that these acts failed of their purpose. Having found that under the constitution as it existed no act could be passed which would provide for all existing cases, the legislature proposed a constitutional amendment, which was adopted in 1912. Under this amendment fresh legislation was passed in 1913,3 reenacting many portions of the measures before declared unconstitutional. This act has not yet been brought into question in any important case and has therefore not been interpreted by the Supreme Court.

Recommended Citation

Robert R. Jacobson, Charter Amending Powers of Cities under Michigan Home-Rule Legislation, 14 Mich. L. Rev. 281 (1916).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol14/iss4/1