Court Opinion

ID: 9695404
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:18:52.730842+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:12.063631
License: Public Domain

Gordon, J.
(dissenting). I do not believe that the classifications in sections 8 and 9 of the ordinance of the village of Elm Grove are based upon substantial differences. In State ex rel. Ford Hopkins Co. v. Mayor (1937), 226 Wis. 215, 222, 276 N. W. 311, this court asserted the following rule as to classifications in the exercise of police power:
“All classification must be based upon substantial distinctions which make one class really different from another.”
The ordinance in question purports to zone land use in an arbitrary manner; it denies equal protection of the laws, and the trial court was correct in striking it down as unconstitutional. State ex rel. O’Neil v. Hallie (1963), 19 Wis. (2d) 558, 567, 120 N. W. (2d) 641; Geisenfeld v. Shorewood (1939), 232 Wis. 410, 287 N. W. 683.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Wilkie joins in this dissent.