CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - RACE SEGREGATION ORDINANCE - EFFECT OF MILITARY ORDER OF GOVERNOR ISSUED FOR SAME PURPOSE

Authors

Abstract

A "segregation ordinance" of Oklahoma City, prospective in nature, made it unlawful for any negro to occupy as a residence any house or building located in a block wherein a majority of the buildings used were occupied by white persons. The initial step in the segregation of races in the city occurred when the Governor issued a military order for the separation of the races, because it appeared that riot and bloodshed were imminent; such order to remain in effect until an ordinance was passed in lieu of the order. Held, the ordinance was an invalid exercise of the police power; it deprived the negro of property without due process of law and abridged a privilege which he was entitled to enjoy as a citizen of the United States. The military order was not material in so far as the validity of the ordinance as an exercise of the police power was concerned. Allen v. Oklahoma City, 175 Okla. 421, 52 P. (2d) 1054 (1935).

Recommended Citation

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - RACE SEGREGATION ORDINANCE - EFFECT OF MILITARY ORDER OF GOVERNOR ISSUED FOR SAME PURPOSE, 35 Mich. L. Rev. 137 (1936).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol35/iss1/13