Also known as: muni · municipal · municipalities · municipally · municipal corporation · muni bond
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A local governmental entity created by state law to exercise governmental powers within a defined territory and to provide public services to its residents.
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The city council of a small town establishes a trust funded by private donations to maintain public parks and reduce local poverty through community programs. A court upholds the trust because its purposes qualify as municipal and beneficial to the community under the applicable statute.
Matrix Technologies operates a manufacturing plant that was lawful when built but now violates new zoning rules enacted by the City of Fairmont. The city attempts immediate shutdown, yet the company retains the right to continue the use because protection of preexisting property rights limits the municipality's power to eliminate it at once.
Mosaic Retail obtains a building permit from the City of Riverton and spends heavily on site preparation for a retail center under existing zoning. When the city later rezones the area, the developer keeps the right to finish construction because substantial expenditures in good-faith reliance prevent the municipality from revoking the approval.
The Village of Lakewood enacts a comprehensive zoning ordinance that restricts industrial development on land owned by a realty company. The ordinance is sustained because it bears a substantial relation to public health and general welfare and represents a valid exercise of municipal land-use authority.
The City of New London approves a redevelopment plan that transfers private property to other private owners to stimulate economic growth and increase tax revenue. The plan is upheld as a valid public use because the municipality's determination that the project serves a public purpose receives deference.
The Village of Arlington Heights denies rezoning that would allow construction of integrated housing. Plaintiffs allege discriminatory purpose, and the court examines whether the municipality's decision was motivated by intent to exclude protected groups rather than legitimate planning concerns.
Protection of preexisting property rights limits a municipality's power to eliminate nonconforming uses immediately upon rezoning. The owner generally retains a vested right to continue the use unless the right is lost through abandonment or amortization.
…the foreign State his representative has the same right, as representing him, and may garnish or attach the debt, provided the municipal law of the State where the attachment was sued out permits it." Id. , at 226. The problem with this reasoning is that unless the plaintiff has obtained a judgment establishing his claim…