NOTE ON HOME RULE
As has been stated time and again,
the term "home rule" lacks a rigid
definition. Historically, the home-rule
movement was an attempt to create, to
some small degree, a federal relationship
between the states and their political
subdivisions. The movement found its
greatest impetus in urban areas, which
resented the rurally dominated state
legislatures' interference through local
and special laws.
As the home-rule movement grew, the
desire to divide state from local func-
tions was coupled with the adoption of
local charters. Thus, in the first home-
rule provision, which was included in
the Missouri Constitution of 1875, Sec-
tions 20 to 26 of Article IX endowed
St. Louis with certain powers of local
self-determination, including the power
to "frame a charter."
DEVOLUTION OF POWER
AND CHARTER MAKING
It must be pointed out that, although
most constitutional grants of home-rule
powers only become applicable with the
adoption of a charter, there is no rea-
son this must always hold. Thus, the
Idaho Constitution — Article XII, Sec-
tion 2 — grants to all counties and incor-
porated cities and towns the power "to
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make and enforce, within its limits, all
such local police, sanitary and other
regulations as are not in conflict . . .
with the general laws." Yet the Idaho
Constitution does not include a charter-
making provision. Therefore a constitu-
tion could include a mandatory devolu-
tion of power on the political subdivi-
sions while leaving the question of
charter-making to local determination.
ALTERNATIVES TO CHARTER MAKING
At present, the following eight state
constitutions authorize the legislature to
establish optional forms of county gov-
ernment: Georgia (1945), Louisiana
(1921), Missouri (1945), Montana
(1922), New York (1935), North
Dakota (1940), Ohio (1933), and Vir-
ginia (1928). There is no reason that a
similar system could not be adopted in
Maryland. Since political subdivisions
will already have received a grant of
power, it would seem that the code
county proposal should not be included
in a new constitution, but rather should
1 This article was prepared for the Commis-
sion by John W. Ellwood, a research assistant
for the Commission and a graduate student in
the Political Science Department at The
Johns Hopkins University; A.B., 1964, Frank-
lin and Marshall College; M.A., 1966, The
Johns Hopkins University.
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