city

« In England. An incorporated town or borough which is or has been the see of a bishop. Co. Litt. 108; 1 Bl. Comm. 114; Cowell. A large town incorporated with certain privileges; the inhabitants of a city; the citizens. Worcester. Although the first definition here given is sanctioned by high authority, it is questionable if it is essential to its character as a city, even in England, that it has been at any time a see; and it certainly retains its character of a city after it has lost its ecclesiastical character (1 Steph. Comm. 115; 1 Bl. Comm. 114), and in the United States it is clearly unnecessary that it should ever have possessed this character. Originally, this word did not signify a town, but a portion of mankind who lived under the same government, — what the Romans called dvitas, and the Greeks polis; whence the word politeia, dvitas seu reipublicae status et adrninistratio. Tou Uier, Dr. Civ. Fr. lib. 1, tit. 1, note 202; Henrion de Pansey, Pouvoir Municipal, pp. 36, 37. In the United States. The highest class of municipal corporation, having extensive municipal powers, required by the presence of a large population. A body politic and corporate established by law, not only to regulate and administer local affairs, but to assist in the civil government of the country. 133 111. 440.

In England. An incorporated town or borough which is or has been the see of a bishop. Co. Litt. 10S; 1 Bla. Com. 114; Cowell. There is said, however, to be no necessary connection between a city and a see. Oxford Diet., citing Freeman. A large town incorporated with certain privileges. The inhabitants of a city. The citizens. Worcester, Diet. Although the first definition here given is sanctioned by such high authority, it is questionable if it is essential to its character as a city, even in England, that it has been at any time a see; and it certainly retains its character of a city after it has lost its ecclesiastical character; 1 Steph. Com. 115; 1 Bla. Com. 314; and in the United States it is clearly unnecessary that it should ever have possessed this character. Originally, this word did not signify a town, but a portion of mankind who lived under the same government — what the Romans called civitas, and the Greeks tto/uc; whence the word politeia — civitas seu reiputlicas status et administratio. Toullier, Dr. Civ. Fr. 1. 1, t. 1, n. 202; Henrion de Pansey, Pouvoir Municipal, pp. 36, 37. By cities in the Middle Ages in Germany was meant fortified places in the enjoyment of market-jurisdiction. The German as well as the French cities are a creation of the Middle Ages; there was an organic connection with the Roman town-system. Schroder, Lehrbuch des Deutchen Rechtsgeschichte 58S. duced to order and regular government: thus, we speak of civil life, civil society, civil government, and civil liberty. In contradistinction to criminal, to indicate the private rights and remedies of men, as members of the community, in contrast to those which are public and relate to the government: thus, we speak of civil process and criminal process, civil jurisdiction and criminal jurisdiction. It is also used in contradistinction to military or ecclesiastical, to natural or foreign; thus, we speak of a civil station, as opposed to a military or an ecclesiastical station; a civil death, as opposed to a natural death; a civil war, as opposed to a foreign war; Story, Const. § 789; 1 Bla. Com. 6, 125, 251; Montesquieu, Sp. of Laws, b. 1, c. 3; Rutherforth, Inst. b. 2, c. 2; id. c. 3; id. c. 8, p. 359; Heineccius, Elem. Jurisp. Nat. b. 2, ch. 6.

In American law. A corporate town; a town of the larger class, incorporated, and governed by a mayor and council of aldermen.

In English law. A town or borough incorporated, and usually of principal note or importance, which either is, or has been, the see of a bishop.

In England. An incorporated town or borough which is or has been the see of a bishop. Co. Litt. 108; 1 Bl. Comm. 114; Cowell. A large town incorporated with certain privileges. The inhabitants of a city. The citizens. Worcester. In America. A city is a municipal corporation of a larger class, the distinctive feature of whose organization is its government by a chief executive (usually called “mayor” and a legislative body, composed of representatives of the citizens, (usually called a. “council” or “bourd of alderimen,”) and other officers having special functions.

6 1. An incorporated town or borough, which, in England, is or has 1 Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U. S. 31-32 (1885), Field, J. See also Pace v. Alabama, 106 id. 584 (1882); Railroad Tax Case (County of San Mateo v. South. Pacific R. Co.), 8 Saw. 251, 302 (1883); Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S. 3, 11, 23. 24 (1883); 93 N. Y. 446. 3 Ah Kow V. Nunan, 6 Saw. 552, 562 (1879). a Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 365 (1886). 4 United States v. Cruikshank, 93 U. S. 542 (1875); United States v. Harris, 106 id. 637 (1882). 8 Le Grand v. United States, 12 F. R. 577, 583-85 been the see of a bishop, i An incorporated town.2 The word "city" may include a town,' q. v. 2. A municipal corporation of the larger class, with powers of government confided in officers who are usually elected by popular ■vote. A political division of a State, for the convenient administration of the government.* An instrumentality, with powers more or less enlarged, according to the requirements of the public, and which may be increased or repealed at the wU] of the legislature.* In a few States cities are of the first class, of the second class, etc., according to population.* Under a constitutional power to organize cities and villages, the legislature is authorized to classify municipal corporations, and an act relating to any such class may be one of a general nature." City purpose. Any public improvement for the common benefit and enjoyment of all the citizens.' Each case must depend largely upon its own facts.' City vouchers are n on -negotiable. See under Negotiate, 2. See generally Charter, 2; Corporation, Municipal; Council, 2; Fire, Department; Health, Board of; Officer; Ordinance, 1; Park, 3; Police, 8; Recorder, 2; Sewer; Sidewalk; Street: Telegraph.

[L. Fr, cite; L. Lat. civitas.] In English law. A town [or borough, Co, Litt. 109 a, b,] incorporated, [and usually of principal note or importance, 1 Steph. Cam. 1 16,1 which either is, or has been the see of a bishop. 1 Bl, Com. 114. Termesde la ley^ This definition has been made the subject of considerable criticism. The qualities of being incorporated, and pf being or having been the see of a bishop, do not appear to have been invariably attached to cities in England; Westminster being a city, though not incorporated, and Thetford and several other places being but towns, though once the seats of bishops. Co. Litt. 109 b. Hargr. note ibid. P. Cyclopedia, Dr. Woodlieson remarks as to the latter feature, that whatever distinction in very early times prevailed between cities and towns in England, it certainly was not this: for in the great council of bishops and abbots, held in the year 1072, by command of Pope Alexander II., by the consent, and in the presence of the king, for settling the disputed superiority between the archbishops, it was decreed that bishops' sees should be trans/erred from towns to cities. This decree, he thinks, probably gave rise to the opinion that a bishop's see constituted a city, in the case also of the new foundations. 1 Wooddes. Lect, 180, citing Ligulph. Hist 92, 93. Spelman alludes to the same decree and its consequences, in confining the title of city to the towns or boroughs in which such sees were located; {civitatis titultis apud cathedrarios tantum burgos remanehat.) Spelman, voc. Burgus. See Borough, Burgus. As to the modern distinction, in England, between a city and any other incorporated town or borough, it seems to be little more than nominal. Both cities and boroughs have the same form of local government, and both send special representatives to parliament, the only difiterence being that in the one case these representatives are or have been called citizens, and in the other burgesses. Spelman, voc. Burgus. Municipal Corporation Act, cited 3 Stepk. Com. 193, et seq. In Brands' s Dictumary it is said that a city differs in no respect but that of superior dignity from another borough. See P. Cyclopaedia. And thi distinction between citizen and burgess seems now to be disregarded. See 1 Man. d: Gr. \, note (a).