Municipal charter
Acity charterortown charter(generically,municipal charter) is a legaldocument(charter) establishing amunicipalitysuch as acityortown.The concept developed inEuropeduring theMiddle Ages.
Traditionally, the granting of a charter gave asettlementand its inhabitants the right totown privilegesunder thefeudal system.Townspeople who lived in chartered towns wereburghers,as opposed toserfswho lived in villages. Towns were often "free",in the sense that they were directly protected by the king or emperor, and were not part of a feudalfief.
Today, the process for granting is determined by the type of government of the state in question. In monarchies, charters are still often aroyal chartergiven bythe Crownor the authorities acting on behalf of the Crown. In federations, the granting of charters may be within the jurisdiction of the lower level of government, such as aprovince.
Canada
[edit]In Canada, charters are granted byprovincial authorities.
Germany
[edit]Philippines
[edit]Since the beginning of American colonial rule, Philippines cities were formally established through laws enacted by the various national legislatures in the country. ThePhilippine Commissiongave the city of Manila its charter in 1901, while the city of Baguio was established by thePhilippine Assemblywhich was composed by elected members instead of appointed ones. During theCommonwealth era,theNational Assemblyestablished an additional ten cities. Since achieving independence from the United States in 1946 thePhilippine Congresshas established 124 more cities (as of September 2007[update]), the majority of which required the holding of aplebiscitewithin the proposed city's jurisdiction to ratify the city's charter.
Sweden
[edit]InSwedenuntil 1951, cities were established byroyal charter.
United Kingdom
[edit]In theUnited Kingdom,cities are established byroyal charter.
United States
[edit]In theUnited States,such charters are established either directly by astate legislatureby means oflocal legislation,or indirectly under a generalmunicipal corporationlaw, usually after the proposed charter has passed a referendum vote of the affected population.
A municipal charter is the basic document that defines the organization, powers, functions and essential procedures of the city government. The charter is, therefore, the most important legal document of any city.[1]Municipalities without charters, in states where such exist, are known asgeneral-law municipalities or cities.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Municipal Charters".National League of Cities.21 October 2016.Archivedfrom the original on Nov 30, 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Winfield, P.H.,The charter of San Francisco(The fortnightly reviewVol. 157-58:2 (1945), p. 69-75)
- Roger L. Kemp, "Model Government Charters: A City, County, Regional, State, and Federal Handbook" (2007), McFarland and Co., Inc., Jefferson, NC, and London, ENG. (ISBN978-0-7864-3154-0)
- Roger L. Kemp "Documents of American Democracy: A Collection of Essential Works",McFarland and Co., Inc., Jefferson, NC, and London, Eng. (ISBN9780-7864-4210-2)
External links
[edit]