The last form of legislation to be mentioned in this CI nunection is that enacted by municipal and quasi-municiiial corporations (counties, townships. etc.). This class of legislation deals with matter. chiefly of local concern. but partly of interest to the State at large. and is enacted as a result of special grant from the legisla tu•e. in Europe, as a rule, there is a inure general grant of legislative power to the locali ties. in the municipalities (q.v.) the organ of legislation is a representative council, sometimes consisting of a single chamber, sometimes of two, the right of veto usually being given to the mayor. In the counties it is usually a small representative board of commissioners or supervisors; in the townships it is sometimes a popular assembly of the voters, sometimes a smaller laxly of trustees or commissioners.
Statutory legislation in the United States is from the standpoint of its territorial application classified general, when it applies to the State as a whole, and special, when its applica tion is restricted to a particular locality. The abuses which have arisen from the practice of special legislation have recently led to the incor poration of provisions in many State Constitu tions to prohibit this form of legislation, but they have frequently been evaded by a sys tem of municipal classification. See Muxici PA LIT Y.
Viewed from the standpoint of time of opera tion. legislation may be either prospective or retroactive. Retroactive legislation unless for purposes is generally objectionable and is generally regarded with disfavor. Such legisla tion when applied to criminal niatters, or when it is intended to impair the obligations of contracts, is forbidden by the Constitution of the States. Looked at from its content legislation may be either subs/an/ire or remedial. Legisla tion of the former character creates and defines individual rights; of the latter, provides remedies and affords protection.
The methods and processes of legislation roughly fall into two general classes: (1) the cabinet method, and (2) the congressional or committee method. According to the first meth od, which prevails everywhere in Europe, ex cept in Switzerland and Germany, and even to a limited extent in Germany. the great mass of
legislation is formulated and initiated by respon sible ministers who have seats in the Legisla ture and may at the same time be members of that body. Whether members or not. the minis ters take part in the debate's advocating the adoption of the public measures which they wish to have enacted into law, defending them from the attacks of the opposition and finally resign ing when defeated upon any important measure. (See According to time second method there is no ministry to formulate and expedite the passage of but en eh individual member introduces such publie or private hills as he chooses and relies upon the aid of his colleagues to secure their passage. This is the method in vogue in the Congress of the United States, and in the legislatures of the several States. (See UNITED STATES. section on Gorrrament.) Here the chief agencies forexpediting legislationare the committees, which play only a subordinate part in the European systems. Apart from this divergence in the method of initiating and ex pediting the enactment of public measures, there is a substantial consensus among the leading nations of the world as to the general principles of legislative organization and procedure. (See LEcisi..•rt HE.) The constitutions of many States preseribe detailed rules in regard to the form in which projeets of legislation shall be east, their reference to committees, the number of readings through which they shall pass, the keeping of a journal, the recording of the ayes am] nays in certain cases, reconsideration of the executive veto, and sometimes such matters as amendments, divisions, discipline, and petitions.
Consult: Amos, The Science of Politics (New York, ISS3) ; Holland, The Elements of duris pruilcnec (Oxford, ISS2) ; Maine, Early Law and Custom ( London. 1883) ; Burgess, Political Science and Constitutional Lair (Boston, ISM); and Lowell. Gorernments and Parties in Conti nental Europe (2 vols., Boston, 1896).