The present municipal system of Prussia dates from the reorganization of the municipalities by Stein and Hardenburg, November 19, 1808. See Seeley’s Life of Stein, part 5, chap. 3, and Meier’s Reform der Vervaltung-Organization unter Stein und Hardenberg, Leipsig, 1881. The present “Municipal Corporation Act,” Stædte-ordnung, was passed May 30, 1853. See Kotze, Die Preussischen Stædte Verfassungen, Berlin, 1879, and Backoffner, Die Stædteordnungen der Preussischen Monarchie, Berlin, 1880, and especially Eugen Leidig’s Preussisches Stadtrecht, Berlin, 1891. See also the articles on local government in Prussia cited above.
d. Other Foreign Cities.
Statistics of all important German cities are given in Dr. M. Neefe’s Statistisches Jahrbuch Deutscher Stædte, Erster Jahrgang, Breslau, 1890. Financial statistics of the great European cities are given in Joseph Körösi’s Bulletin Annual de Finance des Grandes Villes, Dixième Année, Budapest, 1890.
A short account of the municipal government of Vienna is given in a report by Mr. Kasson in Foreign Relations for 1879, p. 64 and an extended account in Dr. Felder’s Die Gemeinde-Vervaltung der Reichs-haupt und Residenzstadt Wien, Vienna, 1872. For the government of Budapest see Dr. Shaw’s article in the Century, June, 1892, vol. 44, pp. 163-179. Prof. F. G. Peabody gives a sketch of Dresden in an article entitled “A Case of Good City Government,” in the Forum, April, 1892, vol. 13, p. 53.
The following relate to various British Cities: Dr. Shaw’s “Glasgow, a Municipal Study,” in the Century, March, 1890, vol. 39, pp. 721-736; the same writer’s “Municipal Lodging Houses,” in No. 1 of the Charities Review, November, 1891; Julian Ralph’s “The Best Governed City in the World” (Birmingham) in Harper’s Magazine, 1890, vol. 81, pp. 99-111; Thos. H. Sherman’s report on “Liverpool, its Pavements, Tramways, Sewers and Artisans’ Dwellings,” in Consular Reports, June, 1890, vol. 33, pp. 284-303; and Consul Smyth’s report on “Tramways and Water Works in England,” in the Consular Report for December, 1891.
II. AMERICAN CITIES.
1. LEGAL STATUS.
For comparison of the provisions of the state constitutions relating to municipal corporations, see F. J. Stimson’s American Statute Law, Boston, 1886, vol. 1, articles 34, 37 and 50. Note the classification of municipalities in Ohio. On the relation of municipalities to the states, consult the chapter on “The Grades of Municipal Government” in Judge T. M. Cooley’s Constitutional Limitations, 6th ed., Boston, 1890, and a short chapter at the close of the same author’s Principles of Constitutional Law. Judge J. F. Dillon’s Treatise on the Law of Municipal Corporations, 4th ed., 2 vols., Boston, 1890, is the standard authority on the subject. Note the introductory historical sketch. A new text-book on the Law of Municipal Corporations, by Chas. F. Beach, Jr., has been recently issued by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reference may also be made to Judge Dillon’s Law of Municipal Bonds, Chicago, 1877, and to A Treatise on Municipal Police Ordinances, Chicago, 1887, by N. T. Horr and A. A. Bemis, of the Cleveland bar. The authors of the last work say in their preface that “The necessity for it arises from the fact that, except in those cities and towns where the municipal council has the assistance of regularly employed legal advisers, the limits of lawful legislation are apt to be exceeded.”
Numerous references to articles in law journals are given on pp. 386-388 of Jones’s Index to Legal Periodical Literature, Boston, 1888. An article by J. R. Berryman on “Constitutional Restrictions upon Legislation about Municipal Corporations,” in the American Law Review, May-June, 1888, vol. 22, p. 403, may be cited.