Cotton, Albert H.

English

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Louisiana Law ReviewVolume 10 | Number 1November 1949LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAW: TEXT, CASESAND OTHER MATERIAL, by Jefferson B.Fordham. Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc.1949. Pp. xxx, 1060. $8.00.Albert H. CottonThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact kreed25@lsu.edu.Repository CitationAlbert H. Cotton, LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAW: TEXT, CASES AND OTHER MATERIAL, by Jefferson B. Fordham. Brooklyn: TheFoundation Press, Inc. 1949. Pp. xxx, 1060. $8.00., 10 La. L. Rev. (1949)Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol10/iss1/20LOUISIANA LAW REVIEWmarily a real estate speculation. In order to secure settlers heborrowed from Virginia the headright system and local self-gov-ernment, and added to these religious freedom. Baltimore plannedthe economy of Maryland as the company had that of Virginia,but, as in Virginia, individualism made short work of it.Virginia and Maryland were neutral in the English Civilwar because they -depended on the King for their charters, presentand prospective, and on the London merchants for their com-merce. Royalist sentiment in Virginia arose not merely fromsympathy for the King but also from fear that the Parliamentmight incline to re-establish the company, the leaders of whichwere ardent for the Puritan cause. Because of her commercialdependence on London, Virginia submitted to Cromwell but theterms of submission were such as to leave the colony virtuallyindependent. The independence Virginia prized, however, was notprovincial independence but independence for the county. Pro-fessor Craven's discussion of county development and adminis-tration in Maryland and Virginia is enlightening and forms afitting foundation for Professor Sydnor's treatment of a laterperiod. Virginia retained its liberties under the Restoration. Italso retained its loyalties and the author is unable to detect inBacon's Rebellion any anticipation of the American Revolution.The men to whom King Charles granted (possibly with re-luctance) the area called Carolina had the same plans as did theLondon Company and Lord Baltimore, but intended to carry themout with settlers obtained not from England but from the othercolonies. They, too, planned for compact settlement, orderly ex-pansion, and production of needed crops. Their "FundamentalConstitution" looked to these ends as did the Manorial Systemin Maryland. Both failed before the impact of frontier individu-alism. The failure was hastened in Carolina by the swift devel-opment of Indian trade, leaving as its chief trace the hegemonyof Charleston in the colony.R. S. COTTERILL*LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAW: TEXT, CASES AND OTHER MATERIAL, byJefferson B. Fordham. Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc.1949. Pp. xxx, 1060. $8.00.The adoption of the title, "Local Government Law," for anew casebook on Municipal Corporations implies that the editoris offering something more than a new book in an old field. Dean*Department of History, Florida State University.[VOL. XREVIEWSFordham's book fulfills this promise. There is material here fora much broader course than one limited to the traditional legaldoctrines applied to city government.Local government has more than kept pace with the growthof government generally. Beginning at least with the New Deal,new types of governmental units have sprung up to meet specialneeds all over the country. In addition, many more of the oldertypes of units have been formed, and the traditional units havetaken on added functions and responsibilities. The air is full ofproposals to re-organize, combine, and reform the units whichalready exist. The increased interest of citizens in civic affairsshould be reflected by an increased interest of law students in alocal public law course.Here, if anywhere, is an opportunity to train lawyers for atype of public service which will not interfere generally withtheir careers. The reviewer has little sympathy with the notionthat it is part of the function of a law school to train men to staffthe government bureaus in Washington-public law should betaught to train the lawyers of the future to.resist the demandsof the government on their clients-not to produce law clerksfor the government. Students should not be encouraged to leavetheir home communities and bury themselves in Washington.An interest in local government, however, need not be a full-timeinterest; it is only part-time work. Even though not retained bythe community, the lawyer is supposed to be a prominent citizen,and his prestige demands that he be informed concerning civicaffairs.From the student's point of view, the local government fieldoffers an ideal opportunity for combination of the virtues of apolicy and a bread-and-butter course. City and regional planningproblems demand a policy approach, and the consideration of thewidest variety of non-legal materials. There could be nothingmore practical than a knowledge of the techniques of invalidatingmunicipal ordinances. There is always a private citizen's side tothe problem, and the private citizens need lawyers just as muchas the government.The mention of city planning brings up a controversy, andaffords an opportunity to get back to the book under review.Should zoning, city and regional planning and public housingbe treated as part of the property courses, or as part of a localgovernment course?1949]LOUISIANA LAW REVIEWIt is true that the problem of zoning comes to the lawyer'soffice with property problems. Today, if the client wishes to buildthe lawyer is more likely to find a zoning ordinance standing inhis client's way than a defect in title and the remedy througha zoning board of appeals rather than through a quiet title action.Unless the property course is to be re-organized and slantedtoward a study of all the devices of the community for the allo-cation of land resources, as is done in McDougal and Haber'sProperty, Wealth, Land: Allocation, Planning and Development,it seems that zoning and related problems fit in more easily withlocal government. Both the judge armed with the English Re-print and the building inspector armed with the newest zoningordinance represent community intervention in land use. But thestudent can better learn to appreciate the point of view of thebuilding inspector and the legislation and decisions behind himin the atmosphere of a public law course than in the atmosphereof the traditional property course. Zoning and city planning arean integral part of the activities and problems of the moderncity. Presented with traditional property problems, they just donot fit in.Dean Fordham has presented ample material for the instruc-tor who shares the above views. The chapter on "CommunityPlanning and Development" covers 240 pages, and ranges throughsuch topics as the laying out of streets, zoning and regulatoryproblems, devices to induce the location of industries in thecommunity, and public housing problems. Especially valuable,in this section, are the introductory text, giving a necessary back-ground for consideration of the problems, and supplemented bynotes and sectional introductions, and a typical zoning ordinanceprinted in full. This type of material, so often overlooked, is es-sential. The problems of the lawyer of the future will be indrafting and complying with such ordinances, rather than inlitigating their validity.The outstanding contribution of Dean Fordham's volume isin the new treatment of the chapters'on "Finance" and "Reme-dies Against Local Government-Debt Adjustment." The casesselected are modern and interesting, and the text is up to thegeneral high standard of the book. The unique feature, however,is the reprinting of a complete bond transcript. It is especiallyappropriate to tie together the problems presented by the casesinvolving bond issues. It has a greater value than this-the stu-dent sees a sample of the type of documents he will use and pre-[VOL. XREVIEWSpare when he gets out of school. In general, the law school gradu-ate knows how to find and read appellate court decisions, andnot too much else. Every appropriate opportunity should be seizedto make him familiar with the type of documents he will be calledupon to prepare, and the documents where he will find the factsof transactions to which he will apply legal rules. The use of abond transcript in this connection illustrates how the reviewerthinks this should be done. It makes it possible to go from thetranscript to the statutes and the cases to see why things wereincluded, and from the cases and the statutes to the transcript tosee if necessary things are there. The device is not overdone, forthe cases are selected generally, and not related specifically tothe particular transcript used.Dean Fordham has gone all out for the up-to-date case. Ofthe cases reported in full, 77 were decided since 1940, 35 between1930 and 1940, and only 15 prior to 1930. The older cases are con-sidered in the book, but they appear only as they are discussedin the modern decisions and in the text. The use of modern casesis a good method of capturing student interest. In this field,modern cases must be used because many of the problems havenot been in existence for long. However, there is an even moreimportant reason for using recent cases. As in all public lawfields, the law moves with comparative rapidity. With the ex-ception of constitutional law, where the recent changes havebeen revolutionary, there is no field in which old cases shouldbe more suspect than in local government. Much of it is stateconstitutional law, where national trends may be followed. Be-sides specific state constitutional provisions, the doctrine of dele-gation of powers, for example, has always played a more impor-tant role in state decisions than in federal. Even where the prob-lem is not specifically constitutional, notions of public policychange, and the recent case is frequently the most valuable.The text takes up roughly a third of the volume. In this ma-terial the editor has included critical commentaries suggested byhis own study. These comments should make the volume of in-terest to attorneys practicing in the field, as well as adding tothe interest and value of the book to law students. Through theuse of text, topics are included for which there would not beroom if cases were used exclusively. It also makes possible theinclusion of background material that is not strictly legal, but isnecessary for a real understanding of the problem. A particularlygood example of the use of this material is in the discussion of an-1949]106 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [VOL. Xnexations to cities. In addition, legal material has been includedfrom statutes and constitutional provisions, as well as cases, andsome material from law reviews.Finally, the typographical arrangement deserves highestpraise-the text and notes are printed in the same size type as thecases. Too many good casebooks have been ruined by printingsome of the best material in unreadably small type, and thisvolume is a welcome exception.ALBERT H. COTTON**Assistant Professor of Law, Louisiana State University.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAW: TEXT, CASES AND OTHER MATERIAL, by
Jefferson B. Fordham. Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc.
1949. Pp. xxx, 1060. $8.00.

https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1653&amp;context=lalrev

LOCAL GOVERNMENT LAW: TEXT, CASES AND OTHER MATERIAL, by Jefferson B. Fordham. Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc. 1949. Pp. xxx, 1060. $8.00.

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