GA Case Law

Dev. Auth. of Dekalb County v. State of Georgia Category: GA Sub-category: Case Law Publication Date: 09/28/2009 Author: Georgia Supreme Court In Dev. Auth. of Dekalb County v. State of Georgia , the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the authority’s constitutional challenges to a referendum requirement for the issuance of bonds. The challenged amendment unambiguously applied to the authority, but it argued that it was arbitrary and violated the “uniform terms and conditions” provision in the Georgia Constitution. The substantive due process challenge was rejected because it was reasonable for the legislature to impose the referendum requirement only on county authorities, and not city authorities, as this could have reflected a piecemeal approach to legislation. The uniformity claim was rejected because the law was phrased in general terms and applied uniformly to all authorities meeting its criteria, regardless of the fact that the development authority was the only one meeting those criteria. Finally, the court rejected the contention that the legislation enacting the amendment violated the multiple subject prohibition in the state constitution.

Pleasant Township v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., 138 U.S. 67 (1891) Category: ALL Sub-category: Case Law In this nineteenth century case, the Court held that an Ohio statute authorizing certain townships to issue bonds for railroad construction violated the state constitution’s prohibition on providing public aid to private corporations.