Opinion ID: 2090997
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sovereign Immunity and the Tort Immunity Act

Text: Under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, a governmental unit is immune from tort liability. (Comment, The Special Duty Doctrine: A Just Compromise, 31 St. Louis U.L.J. 409, 410 (1987).) This doctrine has its origins in the common law principles that the King can do no wrong, and `the logical and practical ground that there can be no legal right as against the authority that makes the law on which the right depends.' ( Molitor v. Kaneland Community Unit District No. 302 (1959), 18 Ill.2d 11, 20, 163 N.E.2d 89; M. Polelle & B. Ottley, Illinois Tort Law 664 (1985), quoting Kawananakoa v. Polyblank (1907), 205 U.S. 349, 353, 27 S.Ct. 526, 527, 51 L.Ed. 834, 836.) In recent years, however, both Federal and State governments have either modified or abolished this rule. See M. Polelle & B. Ottley, Illinois Tort Law 664 (1985). Specifically, this court abolished governmental immunity in 1959. ( Molitor, 18 Ill.2d at 21-22, 163 N.E.2d 89.) In response to the Molitor case, the General Assembly enacted the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (the Tort Immunity Act) (Ill.Rev. Stat.1989, ch. 85, pars. 1-101 through 9-107). The Act adopted the general principle that local governmental units are liable in tort but limited this with an extensive list of immunities based on specific government functions. For example, a local public entity is not liable for adopting or failing to adopt a particular enactment or for failing to enforce any law. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 85, par. 2-103.) There is no municipal liability for negligence connected with the administration of permits, licenses, certificates, and other authorizations (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1989, ch. 85, par. 2-104), for negligence connected with the inspection of property for health or safety hazards (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 85, par. 2-105), for negligence connected with injuries resulting from unsafe conditions of municipal property if the local government entity had no actual or constructive notice of the unreasonably unsafe condition (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 85, par. 3-102), for negligence resulting in injuries occurring on public property intended for recreational purposes, unless the local public entity is guilty of willful and wanton conduct (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 85, par. 3-106), for the negligent failure to supervise an activity on public property (Ill.Rev. Stat.1989, ch. 85, par. 3-108), or for negligence resulting in injuries incurred during participation in hazardous recreational activity (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 85, par. 3-109). We also note that the Illinois Constitution of 1970 expressly abrogated the doctrine of sovereign immunity [e]xcept as the General Assembly may provide by law. (Ill. Const.1970, art. XIII, § 4.) Therefore, the tort liability of a municipality such as defendant is expressly controlled by constitutional provision and legislative prerogative as embodied in the Tort Immunity Act.