What is police power?
Answer:
Regardless of the following court opinions, it is still frequently abused.
"We realize that the police power is elastic to meet changing conditions and changing needs, yet it cannot be used to abrogate or limit personal liberty or property rights contrary to constitutional sanction."
City of Cincinnati v. Correll, 49 N.E. 412, 414; 141 Ohio St. 535
"But the police power, even as thus defined, vague and vast as it is, has its limitations, and it cannot justify any act which violates the prohibitions, expressed or implied, or the state or federal constitutions. If this were not so, and if the police power were embraced within the meaning of the words "general welfare," as defined by the lexicographers, the constitutions would be so much waste paper, because no right of the individual would be beyond its reach, and every property right and personal privilege and immunity of the citizen could be invaded at the will of the state, whenever in its judgement the convenience, prosperity, or mental or physical comfort of the public required [it]."
Tighe v. Osborne, 181 A. 801, 803; 149 Md. 349, 357.
"The powers of government, under our system, are nowhere absolute. They are but grants of authority from the people, and are limited to their true purposes. The fundamental rights of the people are inherent and have not been yielded to government control. They are not the subjects of governmental authority. They are the subjects of individual authority. Constitutional powers can never transcend constitutional rights. The police power is subject to the limitations imposed by the constitution upon every power of government; and it will not suffered to invade or impair the fundamental liberties of the citizen, those natural rights which are the chief concern of the Constitution and for whose protection it was ordained by the people. * * * It [a constitutional right], is not a right, therefore, over which the police power is paramount. Like every other fundamental liberty, it is a right to which the police power is subordinate."
Spann v. City of Dallas (1921) 235 S.W. 513, 515; 111 Tex. 350. And: Goldman v. Crowther (1925) 128 Atl. 50, 59; 147 Md. 282, 306-7.
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/police_powe...
the ability to enforce community laws
If you live here, it's the power to do as they darned well please.
Police power is the authority of a state to enforce the laws and regulate the behaviors of its citizens. It is limited by the constitutions of the states.
The answers post by the user, for information only, FreeLawAnswer.com does not guarantee the right.
Answer question:
More Questions and Answers: