Also known as: general welfare · general welfare clause
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
3 senses
A constitutional standard authorizing Congress to tax and spend to promote the common benefit of the nation as a whole.
A doctrinal test requiring that zoning classifications bear a substantial relation to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.
A constitutional standard authorizing Congress to tax and spend to promote the common benefit of the nation as a whole.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A doctrinal test requiring that zoning classifications bear a substantial relation to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A statutory standard authorizing courts in dissolution proceedings to create trusts protecting the support, maintenance, education, and general welfare of minor or dependent children.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A statutory standard authorizing courts in dissolution proceedings to create trusts protecting the support, maintenance, education, and general welfare of minor or dependent children.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
The Social Security Administration offered Summit Stadium construction funds conditioned on State A raising the drinking age near venues and imposing curfews. The conditions advanced safety at federally financed arenas and therefore satisfied the general good and welfare requirement of the spending power.
Congress created a public financing system for presidential campaigns funded by tax revenues. The program was upheld as a valid exercise of congressional power under the General Welfare Clause.
It authorizes Congress to lay and collect taxes to pay debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. The clause supplies an independent basis for federal spending that promotes the national interest.
Supporting sources
A city divided its territory into residential, commercial, and industrial districts. The classifications bore a substantial relation to public health, safety, and general welfare, so the ordinance was a valid exercise of the police power.
After notice and hearing, a city council rezoned one lakeshore parcel to permit an environmental research center. The amendment advanced conservation education and habitat restoration and therefore bore a substantial relation to the general welfare.
A city rezoned a single parcel to permit a use inconsistent with the surrounding conservation district and the comprehensive plan. Because the change primarily benefited one landowner rather than the community, it failed the general welfare test and was invalid.
Zoning ordinances and amendments must bear a substantial relation to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare. A classification that lacks this relation is invalid as arbitrary or as a denial of equal protection.
Supporting sources
Spot zoning violates the requirement when it benefits a single parcel or small area in a manner inconsistent with the comprehensive plan or surrounding uses and cannot be justified by a legitimate public purpose.
Supporting sources
During dissolution proceedings, a court placed portions of both spouses' estates into a trust for their chronically ill minor child. The trust served the child's support, maintenance, education, and general welfare and was therefore authorized by statute.
Yes. In dissolution proceedings the court may set aside portions of the parties' jointly and separately held estates in a separate fund or trust for the support, maintenance, education, and general welfare of minor, dependent, or incompetent children.
Supporting sources
…based, are often subject to regulation by the States in the exercise of their undoubted power to promote the health, safety, and general welfare, or the Federal Government in the exercise of its delegated powers. But to agree that religiously grounded conduct must often be subject to the broad police power of the State is not to…