Nash v. City of Santa Monica

I dissent.

As Justice Frankfurter wrote in Bay Ridge Co. v. Aaron (1948) 334 U.S. 446, 484 [92 L.Ed. 1502, 1527, 68 S.Ct. 1186], “On the question you ask depends the answer you get.”

In this case if the question is whether a municipality may exercise its police power to reasonably regulate the rental business, the answer is: generally it may do so. But if the question is whether a city may compel a landlord to remain in business against his will, and give him only the alternative of a forced sale, the answer is: not in a democratic society.

The majority primarily consider the former question. In…