Opinion ID: 2173448
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Special LawsHistorical Background

Text: A brief review of the history of the constitutional prohibition against special legislation is helpful to understand its significance. Special legislation refers to statutes that apply to localities rather than to the state as a whole and statutes that benefit individuals rather than the general public. Robert M. Ireland, The Problem of Local, Private, and Special Legislation in the Nineteenth-Century United States, 46 AM. J. LEGAL. HIST. 271, 271 (2004). Prior to the mid to late 1800s, state legislatures primarily enacted special legislation and very little general legislation. Id. Special legislation made up 87% of state legislation passed in Missouri before 1859. Christopher L. Thompson, Note, Special Legislation Analysis in Missouri and the Need for Constitutional Flexibility, 61 Mo. L.REV. 185, 192 (1996). The subjects of special legislation were varied. Laws were enacted to divorce couples, to validate invalid marriages, to control certain animals in certain places, to change interest rates at individual banks, to grant charters incorporating businesses, to provide for special punishments (e.g., whipping wife beaters) in specific counties, to create special local courts and judges, to change, the terms in wills and trusts, to alter the course of judicial proceedings in individual cases, to create local tax laws and special tax exemptions, to authorize cities and counties to sell bonds to fund railroads that were never built, and more. Ireland, supra, at 285-92. There were numerous problems with special legislation. The amount passed was so voluminous that individual legislators could not have taken more than a cursory look at each bill, and it was often hastily and sloppily drafted. Ireland, supra, at 273-74. Special legislation took away from the time legislators spent on needed general legislation. Id. at 277, 279. Instead, the legislators spent their time engaged in the practice of logrolling, whereby a legislator could count on other legislators to vote for his special legislation in return for him voting for their special legislation. Id. at 273. Any legislator who dared challenge a particular piece of special legislation risked ostracism. Id. at 274. And since the legislation did not apply to any other legislators' districts, the other legislators did not consider the merits of the legislation. Thomas F. Green, Jr., A Malaproprian Provision of State Constitutions, 24 WASH. U.L.Q. 359, 364 (1939). Indeed, an individual legislator during that time period had exclusive powers with regard to every matter of legislation that affected his county and the people in it. Ireland, supra, at 274. The prevalence of special legislation led to extremely powerful lobbyists and sometimes outright corruption. Id. at 277. The general public seldom received notification of pending special legislation and generally learned of it only after it was enacted. Id. at 275. These problems existed across the country, leading to 46 states enacting constitutional prohibitions against special legislation. Recent Case, Municipal Corporations Legislative ControlStatute Applicable to a Single County Does Not Violate Constitutional Prohibition Against Special Legislation, 76 HARV. L.REV. 652, 652-53 (1963). At the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1875, there was a unanimous desire to provide against special legislation. 5 Debates of the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1875, 60 (Statement of Mr. Priest). Further, the delegates did not want the Legislature to have the power to decide what legislation was special. One delegate stated, I think if there is any one question upon which the Supreme Court of the State ought to have the right and power to review and supervise the action of our Legislature it is that very question of local legislation. 7 Debates of the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1875, 397 (Statement of Mr. Bradfield). In an address to the people of Missouri, the delegates of the Constitutional Convention addressed special legislation: The evils of local and special legislation have become enormous. We need but look to our session acts to be satisfied that this species of legislation occupies the larger portion of the time of our General Assemblies, to the neglect and prejudice of public interests. The expense to the State in passing and publishing such laws and the combinations by which private interests have been advanced and dangerous monopolies created are well known. Under the proposed Constitution the General Assembly is prohibited from passing such laws. 2 Journal of the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1875, 878 (Isidor Loeb & Floyd C. Shoemaker eds., State Historical Society of Missouri, 1920). The prohibition against special legislation was included in the Constitution of 1875 as approved by the voters. It was also included in the Missouri Constitution of 1945, as the delegation decided to leave the original language of 1875 substantially the same. Consequently, the Missouri Constitution has prohibited special legislation where general legislation can be made applicable since 1875.