Also known as: ordinances · municipal law · local regulation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A municipal regulation enacted by a city or town council on subjects the state has authorized local governments to address. It functions as local legislation within the bounds of state enabling authority and must comply with higher constitutional and statutory requirements.
The city council passed an ordinance banning ritual animal slaughter. Olive Okafor, a Santeria priest, challenged the measure after it prevented her from performing required ceremonies. The court held the ordinance targeted religious practice and failed strict scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause.
Odessa Okada operated a small machine shop that predated new zoning rules restricting industrial activity. When the city tried to shut the shop down, the court recognized her vested right to continue the preexisting nonconforming use under the ordinance.
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Odin Obeng's factory emitted constant loud noise and odors that interfered with neighborhood use. Orion Technologies sued under public nuisance, citing a local ordinance that expressly prohibited the emissions. The court treated the ordinance violation as evidence that the interference was unreasonable.
Oliver Okeke owned land zoned for low-density residential use that prevented any economically viable development. The court examined whether the ordinance bore a substantial relation to public health or safety and found it arbitrarily deprived Okeke of beneficial use of the property.
Orson Ochoa ran a billboard business on property rezoned residential. The new ordinance allowed a five-year amortization period before the use had to cease. The court upheld the ordinance after finding the period reasonable given Ochoa's investment and the nature of the use.
Oswald Orozco challenged a city ordinance dividing districts into residential, commercial, and industrial zones that restricted his parcel. The court upheld the ordinance as a valid exercise of police power because the classifications bore a substantial relation to public health, safety, and welfare.
An ordinance is a local enactment by a municipal legislative body on subjects the state has delegated to local control. It carries the force of law within the municipality but remains subordinate to state statutes and the state and federal constitutions.
Supporting sources
A zoning ordinance may be challenged as a taking when it has no substantial relation to public health, safety, or welfare and arbitrarily deprives the owner of all beneficial use of the property. Courts examine whether the restriction as applied to the specific parcel is reasonable.
The owner generally retains a vested right to continue the preexisting lawful use. The right may be lost through abandonment, discontinuance for the statutory period, or, in some jurisdictions, through a reasonable amortization period set by ordinance.
…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…