Municipal Corporations in the United States

Introduction to Municipal Corporations

Municipal, in its broader sense, it means pertaining to the public or governmental affairs of a state or nation or of a people.

Immunity from Tort Liablity

Note: an overview of this issue is avaliable here.

“As Dean Harno said: “A municipal corporation today is an active and virile creature capable of inflicting much harm. Its civil responsibility should be co-extensive. The municipal corporation looms up definitely and emphatically in our law, and what is more, it can and does commit wrongs. This being so, it must assume the responsibility of the position it occupies in society.” (Harno, Tort Immunity of Municipal Corporations, 4 Ill.L.Q. 28, 42.)” (Molitor v. Kaneland Community Unit Dist. No. 302 163 N.E.2d. 89 @ 95 (Ill. 1959)).

“We conclude that the rule of school district immunity is unjust, unsupported by any valid reason, and has no rightful place in modern society.

“Defendant strongly urges that if said immunity is to be abolished, it should be done by the legislature, not by this court. With this contention we must disagree. The doctrine of school district immunity was created by this court alone.

Having found that doctrine to be unsound and unjust under present conditions, we consider that we have not only the
power, but the duty, to abolish that immunity. “We closed our courtroom doors without legislative help, and we can likewise open them.” Pierce v. Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital Ass’n. 43 Wash.2d 162, 260 P.2d 765, 774. (Molitor v. Kaneland Community Unit Dist. No. 302 163 N.E.2d. 89 @ 96 (Ill. 1959))

McQuillin: The Law of Municipal Corporations–Land Use and Zoning Practice Database

This is a database related to interests in and transfers of real estate, in the following material: General Treatises, Forms, and Practice Guides. A description of this real estate database is provided below:

Selected materials from the Law of Municipal Corporations that relate to zoning and planning.

Further information on United States legal research databases, including real property databases, are provided following the former link.

Resources

Further Reading

• Information about Municipal Corporations in the Gale Encyclopedia of American Law.