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1972 U. Ill. L.F. 137 (1972)
A Tentative Survey of Illinois Home Rule (Part I): Powers and Limitations

handle is hein.journals/unilllr1972 and id is 153 raw text is: A TENTATIVE SURVEY OF ILLINOIS HOME RULE (PART I): POWERS AND LIMITATIONS David C. Baum* I. INTRODUCTION ARTICLE VII of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, the Local Gov- ernment Article, contains many innovations.' But surely the most important change is set forth in section 6 of Article VII which intro- duces home rule into the jurisprudence of the state.2 Prior to the adoption of this section of the constitution, the General Assembly reigned supreme over all affairs of local government. No city, village, county, or other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation could act legally unless it was authorized expressly or by implication to do so by state statute.3 Under this rule of legislative supremacy, often re- ferred to as Dillon's Rule (because it was enunicated in definitive form by Judge Dillon in his classic treatise on municipal corporations), local authority often was limited further by narrow interpretation of statutory grants of power.' * Professor of Law, University of Illinois. A.B. 1956, LL.B. 1959, Harvard University. Counsel, Committee on Local Government, 6th Illinois Constitutional Convention. 1. Among the new features in Article VII are provisions for more flexible treat- ment of county officers and the structure of county government, broadened special assessment powers, permission for use of differential tax rates in different geographical areas of local government units, restrictions on fees charged by local officers, and vastly increased power to engage in intergovernmental cooperation. See Parkhurst, Local Government, THE WEEKLY ILLINOIS CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION SUMMARY 11- 13 (No. 32, Sept. 3, 1970). 2. The heart of the Local Government Article is in its provisions for home rule, a concept not included in the present Constitution. SIXTH ILLINOIS CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE 5 (Sept. 2, 1970). 3. See, e.g., Ives v. City of Chicago, 30 Ill. 2d 582, 198 N.E.2d 518 (1964). Cf. Concrete Contractors' Ass'n v. Village of La Grange Park, 14 Ill. 2d 65, 150 N.E.2d 783 (1958). 4. 1 J. DILLON, MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS 448-50 (5th ed. 1911): It is a general and undisputed proposition of law that a municipal corpora- ration possesses and can exercise the following powers, and no others: First, those granted in express words; second, those necessarily or fairly implied in or incident to the powers expressly granted; third, those essential to the accom- plishment of the declared objects and purposes of the corporation,-not simply convenient, but indispensable. Any fair, reasonable, substantial doubt concerning the existence of power is resolved by the courts against the corporation, and the power is denied. (Emphasis in original. Footnotes omitted.)

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