John Forrest Dillon (December 25, 1831 – May 6, 1914) was an
attorney in
Iowa
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
and
New York, a justice of the
Iowa Supreme Court
The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices.
The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 ...
and a
United States circuit judge of the
United States Circuit Court for the Eighth Circuit. He authored a highly influential treatise on the power of
states over
municipal governments.
Education and career
Born on December 25, 1831, in
Northampton, (then part of
Montgomery County, now part of
Fulton County),
New York,
Dillon received a
Doctor of Medicine in 1850 from the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...
.
He
read law in 1852.
He entered private practice in
Davenport
Davenport may refer to:
Places Australia
*Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality
*Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia
**Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta
** District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
from 1852 to 1853.
He was county attorney for
Scott County, Iowa from 1853 to 1858.
He was a Judge of the
Iowa District Court for the Seventh Judicial District from 1858 to 1862.
He was a justice of the
Iowa Supreme Court
The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices.
The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 ...
from 1862 to 1868.
Federal judicial service
Dillon was nominated by President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...
on December 9, 1869, to the
United States Circuit Court for the Eighth Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 16 Stat. 44.
He was confirmed by the
United States Senate on December 22, 1869, and received his commission the same day.
His service terminated on September 1, 1879, due to his resignation.
Scholarship and notable ruling
While on the federal bench, Dillon wrote ''Municipal Corporations'' (1872), one of the earliest systematic studies of the subject. He also authored ''
Removal of Cases from State Courts to Federal Courts'' and ''Municipal Bonds'', both in 1876. On February 17, 1876, during the
Whiskey Ring graft prosecutions, Justice Dillon ruled
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...
's deposition for
Orville E. Babcock was admissible in court.
Later career
Following his resignation from the federal bench, Dillon was a Professor of law for
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
from 1879 to 1882.
He resumed private practice in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, New York from 1882 to 1914.
He was the Storrs Professor of law at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
from 1891 to 1892,
during which time he wrote ''The Laws and Jurisprudence of England and America: Being a Series of Lectures Delivered Before Yale University.'' He died on May 6, 1914, in New York City.
Memorial
A
memorial fountain to Dillon was erected in downtown Davenport in 1918, carved of Indiana limestone in Romanesque style, by sculptor Harry Liva.
Family
In 1853, Dillon married Anna Margery Price (born 19 June 1835). They had two sons and a daughter. Anna and their daughter, Mrs. Annie Dillon Oliver, died in the sinking of the French ocean liner
SS ''La Bourgogne'' in July, 1898. Dillon's oldest son, Hiram Price Dillon (1855–1918), became a lawyer in Iowa and a Master of
Chancery in federal court. John F. Dillon's sister married John B. Jordan, a Davenport merchant. That marriage produced a daughter Jennie, who married Louis Stengel. Louis and Jennie Stengel had a son,
Charles Dillon (Casey) Stengel, named after the Judge, who had a long career as a baseball player and manager.
Dillon's Rule
The theory of state preeminence over local governments was expressed as Dillon's Rule in an 1868 case: "Municipal corporations owe their origin to, and derive their powers and rights wholly from, the legislature. It breathes into them the breath of life, without which they cannot exist. As it creates, so may it destroy. If it may destroy, it may abridge and control". By contrast, the
Cooley Doctrine, or the doctrine of
home rule, expressed the theory of an inherent right to local self-determination. In a concurring opinion, Michigan Supreme Court Judge
Thomas M. Cooley
Thomas McIntyre Cooley (January 6, 1824 – September 12, 1898) was the 25th Justice and a Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, between 1864 and 1885. Born in Attica, New York, he was father to Charles Cooley, a distinguished American so ...
in 1871 stated, "local government is a matter of absolute right; and the state cannot take it away".
In ''Municipal Corporations'' (1872), Dillon explained that in contrast to the powers of states, which are unlimited but for express restrictions under the state or federal constitution,
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
only have the powers that are expressly granted to them. This formulation of the scope of municipal power came to be known as "Dillon's Rule." It holds that municipal governments have only the powers expressly granted to them by the state legislature, those powers necessarily implied by the express powers, and those that are essential and indispensable to the municipality's existence and functioning. Further, the powers expressly granted to the municipality should be narrowly construed, and any ambiguities in the legislative grant of power should be resolved against the municipality. However, when the state has not specifically directed the method by which the municipality may implement its granted power, the municipality has the discretion to choose the method so long as its choice is reasonable.
The
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
cited ''Municipal Corporations'' and fully adopted Dillon's emphasis on state power over municipalities in ''
Hunter v. Pittsburgh'', which upheld the power of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
to consolidate the city of
Allegheny into the city of
Pittsburgh, despite the objections of a majority of Allegheny's residents. The Court's ruling that states could alter or abolish at will the charters of municipal corporations without infringing upon contract rights relied upon Dillon's distinction between public, municipal corporations and private ones. However, the Court did not prevent states from passing legislation or amending their
constitutions to explicitly allow home rule. This constitutional allowance was reiterated in ''Trenton v. New Jersey'', where the Supreme Court held that "In the absence of state constitutional provisions safeguarding it to them, municipalities have no inherent right of self-government which is beyond the legislative control of the state, but are merely departments of the state, with powers and privileges such as the state has seen fit to grant, held and exercised subject to its sovereign will”.
Trenton v. New Jersey
', 262 U.S. 182 (1923)
Hundreds of United States court decisions have employed the Dillon Rule to determine the scope of municipal powers and rights. Critics of the rule have argued that it imposes unreasonable constraints on the ability of communities to
govern themselves and undermines
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...
or that local self-government is a matter of
natural right that does not need to be conferred by higher political structures. Some have suggested that Dillon's approach derived from the contemporary view that cities were inherently corrupt political organs. States which do not follow Dillon's Rule—''
home rule'' states, including Dillon's own
Iowa
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
—remain in the minority, despite the significant decrease in the public perception of municipal corruption.
David Y. Miller argues that Dillon hit upon a central paradox defining American cities: having great political authority while having little legal legitimacy. He quotes Dillon as calling municipalities "mere tenants at will of their respective state legislatures" which could be "eliminated by the legislature with a stroke of the pen". Dillon also said that eliminating local government would be "so great a folly, and so great a wrong".
References
Sources
*
Gerald E. Frug ''et al.'', ''Local Government Law'', 3rd ed. pp. 139–158. West Publishing, 2001.
* See ''
Arlington County v. White'', 528
S.E.2d 706 (
Va. 2000), for a modern use of the Dillon Rule to invalidate municipal action. See ''State v. Hutchison'', 624
P.2d 1116 (
Utah 1980) for an example of the minority, critical view.
* David Y. Miller, ''The Regional Governing of Metropolitan America'', pp. 1–2. Westview Press, 2002.
* Robert W. Creamer, "Stengel: His Life and Times," pp. 21–23.
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, John Forrest
1831 births
1914 deaths
19th-century American judges
American legal writers
Columbia Law School faculty
Iowa lawyers
Iowa state court judges
Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court
Judges of the United States circuit courts
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
People from Northampton, Fulton County, New York
United States federal judges appointed by Ulysses S. Grant
Writers from Davenport, Iowa
Writers from New York (state)
Yale Law School faculty
United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law
Presidents of the American Bar Association