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| LOCAL LEGISLATION
OPINION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL
GRANT FELLOWS
|UPON
WHAT CONSTITUTES M LOCAL OR SPECIAL ACT
UNDER THE MICHIGAN CONSTITUTION
RENDERED TO THE LEGISLATURE
JANUARY 25, 1915
|UNDER SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. S.





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1
Attorney General's Department,
Lansing, Michigan, January 25, 1915.
THon. Dennis E. Alward, Secretary of the Senate, Capitol:
Dear Sir: You have recently transmitted to this department copy of
Senate concurrent resolution, No. 8 by the provisions of which my opin-
ion is requested upon certain questions arising under Section 30 of Ar-
ticle V of the State Constitution. This section provides:
“The legislature shall pass no local or special act in any
case where a general act can be made applicable, and
whether a general act can be made applicable shall be a
judicial question. No local or special act shall take effect
until approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon
in the district to be affected.”
I shall discuss the different inquiries presented in the order in which
they are stated in the concurrent resolution.
(1) “Are acts which regulate or prohibit the taking of fish or game
in certain specific localities general or special acts?” Any legislative
measure that by its terms is necessarily limited to a portion of the ter-
ritory to which it might apply is, generally speaking, to be deemed a local
act. It has been the holding of this Department for some time past and
it is my opinion now that an act relative to the taking of fish or game
in a specified locality, such locality being less than the legislative juris-
diction must be construed to be local within the meaning of the section
of the Constitution above quoted. Stated somewhat differently, an act
designed to regulate or prohibit the taking of fish in a designated lake
or river, or in a river with the tributaries thereof, is a local act.
(2) “Can a local act be amended or repealed in any case without a
referendum to the electors in the district to be affected 7” I believe that
any measure amending or expressly repealing a local act must itself be
considered to be a local act. As such it is subject to the constitutional
provision and cannot become operative in any case without being sub-
mitted to the electors in the district to be affected and ratified thereby.
(3) “Can a local act be repealed with a referendum to the electors in
the district to be affected?” Upon this proposition, it has been the hold-
ing of this Department that a local measure may be repealed in the man-
ner suggested by the inquiry. Undoubtedly one purpose underlying the
incorporation of Section 30 in Article V of the Constitution was the pro-
motion of uniformity in legislation. The repeal of existing local acts is,
of course, in harmony with that purpose. Furthermore, it can scarcely
be presumed, in my opinion, that it was the intention of the framers of
the Constitution to prohibit absolutely the repeal of local acts.
(4) “Can a local act be amended with a referendum to the electors
in the district to be affected?” It is my view that an amendment to a
local act must stand upon the same basis as do local acts in the first in-
stance. The inhibition of the section of the Constitution above quoted
to the effect that a local or special act shall not be passed in any instance
where a general act can be made applicable, must be construed to apply
4
to measures having for their purpose the amendment of local statutes.
Whether or not, therefore, a local act can be amended in a given instance
must depend upon the answer to the question: May a general law, that
is, one applicable in terms to the entire State, be made to apply? If
the subject-matter is such that the situation may be reached by the
general measure, then the local act is prohibited even though such local
act be an amendment to a prior existing statute. Otherwise, if no law
of general application can be enacted in a given instance, then a local
act may be passed with a referendum providing for its submission to the
electors in the district to be affected. It will be noted that no absolute
rule can be laid down upon this matter, but rather each individual case
that may arise must stand upon its own merits and be determined in
accordance with the principles suggested. 4. *
(5) “When a local act is passed, amended or repealed by the legis-
lature and referred to the electors in the district to be affected, in ac-
cordance with Section 30 of Article V of the Constitution, and the extent
of such district is not obviously certain, is there any general rule by
which the district to be affected can be determined, or is it within the
province of the legislature to determine in each case as to the district
within which such referendum vote shall be taken.” Generally speaking,
I am impressed that the different municipalities and political subdi-
visions concerned are “the district to be affected” by the terms of a local
act. It is perhaps impossible to suggest any definition of this phrase
that would apply to all cases. I think that it can be said, however, that
the legislative declaration in each instance as to the territory that
should be considered the district affected would be entitled to every pre-
sumption and would undoubtedly be upheld by the courts unless arbi-
trary and not based upon sufficient reasons. Perhaps the only thing
that can be said of general application in answer to this question is that
the words used in the constitutional provision shall be given their usual
meaning and that in each case the district affected by a local act is the
township, village or city, or combination of townships, villages and
cities, in which the measure will operate if adopted by the electors. -
(6) “If an act relating to the taking of fish or game in a certain
specified lake or other locality is a local act, what rule, if any, can be
applied to determine the district to be affected?” The answer to this
question has been suggested by what has been said above. In accordance
therewith, an act relating to the taking of fish in a certain lake must,
I believe, be considered to affect the different townships, villages or cities
within the limits of which such lake is situated. Likewise in the case
of a measure regulating the taking of fish in the waters of a specified
river, the district affected is the townships, villages and cities, portions
of the territory of which are crossed by such river. Measures relating
to the taking of game ordinarily refer in terms to political subdivisions
of the State where the same shall apply and thus indicate expressly the
district that shall be affected. - -
Trusting that this will indicate to the legislature my views with
reference to the general principles involved, I am, .
Very respectfully,
GRANT FELLows,
Attorney General.