California Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. City of Los Angeles

Opinion

ARABIAN, J.

Since the addition of the “home rule” provision to our Constitution in 1896, the organic law of California has granted charter cities sovereignty over “municipal affairs.” Although this court and the Court of Appeal have parsed that cryptic phrase in literally scores of cases in the 95 years since the adoption of what is now article XI, section 5, subdivision (a) of the Constitution, what an early member of this court called those “wild words” have defeated efforts at a defining formulation of the content of “municipal affairs.” We granted review in this case to decipher the…