Local Government and Municipal Law

Local government and municipal law encompasses:

1. Legislation adopted by any geographic governmental unit below the state level. These laws include charters, ordinances, regulations, codes, resolutions, etc. (commonly called ordinances).
2. Laws governing the powers of those governmental units. 

For another overview, see Barbara Bavis, Municipal Codes: A Beginner's Guide, Library of Congress: In Custodia Legis (November 21, 2013).

Ordinances govern local matters such as buildings, cemeteries, landlord/tenant, marijuana, schools, zoning,etc. Ordinances have the force of law if it is:

1. Within the scope of authority delegated to the local governmental unit;
2. Properly adopted;
3. Consistent with state or federal law. 

For an extensive list of the topics governed by ordinances see the Ordinance Law Annotations on Westlaw. The Annotations summarize cases with the topic covered by the ordinance

NOTE:  Access restricted to USD faculty, staff & students with username & password

• Antieau on Local Government Law, Second Edition - Available on Lexis
• California Municipal Law Handbook - LRC California & LRC Clinic KFC752 .C352
  • Also available on OnLaw
• Local Government Law, by John Martinez - Available on Westlaw
• Local Government Law (Hornbook), by Osborne M. Reynolds - LRC Reading Room KF5300 .R46 2015
  • Also available on Westlaw 
• Local Government Law in a Nutshell, by David J. McCarthy, Jr. & Laurie Reynolds - LRC Reading Room KF5300.Z9 M12 2003
  • Also available on Westlaw
• Matthews Municipal Ordinances - Available on Westlaw
• McQuillin: The Law of Municipal Corporations Available on Westlaw
• Municipal Liability: Law & Practice, by Vincent R. Fontana- Available on Westlaw: 

Official City Documents

City Charter

Municipal Code

Official County Documents

County Charter

County Ordinances

Lexis has searchable versions of codes for municipalities in all 50 states.

Westlaw has a database of state statutes concerning municipalities but no municipal ordinances/codes..

No single publisher has all the municipal codes. While some cities publish their own code, most contract the publishing out to one of the publishers below.

Search approaches for finding the relevant municipal code:

1. Go to the city's website to search for the code;
2. Use a search engine with the query: "city name code." Then either browse the results list or refine the search;
3. Visit Institute of Governmental Studies: California Local Codes and Charters (Use CTRL+F to search for a city/county instead of the search box.  CTRL+F let's you open the link to the code) The University of California, Berkeley hosts a large depository collection of local ordinance codes and charters issued by California cities and counties. 
4. Search the individual code publisher web sites below.

Citation format for ordinances, see:

• California Style Manual Sec. 2:17
• The Bluebook, Rule 12.9.2, page 130

• American Legal Publishing Corporation
• Code Publishing Company
• Coded Systems LLC (8/28/19:moving to eCode360)
• Colorado Code Publishing Company (focusing on Colorado)
• eCode360 Library
• Franklin Legal Publishing
  • ​Exclusively for Texas municipalities
• Municode Library
  • ​Includes US map to select the state
• Quality Code Publishing (includes link to mobile view)
• Sterling Codifiers​
  • In the Upper Right hand Corner Click on Get Codes.
  • Select state.
  • Select municipality.
  • Click on SUBMIT.

This handbook chapter discusses litigation involving municipalities.

The California Municipal Law Handbook, Chapter 13 Liability and Litigation

Depending on the issue cases dealing with municipal law can be heard in state or federal courts. The Westlaw Municipal Law collection, includes state and federal cases plus sample forms. (Find the collection under the Practice Areas tab,)

Ordinance Law Annotations, within the Westaw Municipal Law collection, provides summaries of cases by topic. 

Lexis users can browse for materials on local government law under the Governments topic. State and federal cases are found in the Local Governments subheading under Claims By & Against.

Depending upon the action sought, a municipality may have a prescribed form that needs to be submitted. Often these are available on the town's website. Many have been collected in the Westlaw tool below. Westlaw also has general suggested forms in the four publications listed at the bottom of the screen.

https://supremecourt-proquest-com.sandiego.idm.oclc.org/supremecourt/search/basicsearch 

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