The Zoning of America: Euclid v. Ambler

by Michael Allan Wolf

Overview

When the Cleveland suburb of Euclid first zoned its land in 1922, the Ambler Realty Company was left with a sizable tract it could no longer sell for industrial use-and so the company sued. What emerged was the seminal zoning case in American history, pitting reformers against private property advocates in the Supreme Court and raising the question of whether a municipality could deny property owners the right to use their land however they chose.

Reconstructing the case that made zoning a central element in urban planning for cities and towns throughout America, Michael Allan Wolf provides the first book-length study of the Supreme Court’s landmark Euclid v. Ambler decision. Wolf describes how the ordinance, and the defense of it, burst onto the national stage and became the focus of litigation before moving all the way to the nation’s highest court. He subsequently reveals how and why Justice George Sutherland broke from the Court’s conservative bloc to support the urban reform movement eager to protect residential neighborhoods from disturbances created by rapidly expanding commercial, industrial, or multifamily uses of land. Following that decision, America saw the rapid proliferation of zoning ordinances, which greatly increased the power of local government to control and rationalize urban planning.

As Wolf attests, many of today’s environmental and land use laws might not have been deemed legal had Euclid v. Ambler been decided differently. But he also points out the potential dangers that emerged from the decision, such as its anticompetitive impact on the real estate market, its catalyzing effect on suburban sprawl, and its establishment of a legal basis for excluding minority groups from neighborhoods.

Wolf’s compelling account makes it clear that Euclid v. Ambler fundamentally altered how we think about the urban landscape, changed the way our cities and suburbs are organized, and left a long shadow over subsequent cases such as the controversial Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London (2005).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700637751
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	08/14/2008
Series:	Landmark Law Cases and American Society
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	204
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michael Allan Wolf is Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law and professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He is general editor of Powell on Real Property, editor of Strategies for Environmental Success in an Uncertain Judicial Climate, and coauthor of the fourth edition of Land-Use Planning: A Casebook on the Use, Misuse and Re-use of Urban Land.

Table of Contents

Editors’ Preface

Preface

1. Caught in a Snowstorm

2. Surveying and Populating the Western Reserve

3. On the Road to Zoning

4. From Gotham to Hamlet: Zoning Comes to Euclid

5. Defending a Plan for the Village of Euclid

6. Judgment Day

7. The Immediate Aftermath

8. Confronting the Consequences of Zoning in Action

9. Return to Euclid

Relevant Cases

Chronology

Bibliographic Essay

Index

Editorial Reviews

"... an important book for those working in the legal history of property, urban planning, and land use."—American Historical Review

"Wolf spices his narrative with human interest, tying the stories of opposing lawyers directly into the legal arguments and the unfolding case. But the main drama centers on the implications of the case for the society at large."—Planning Magazine

"Wolf’s book is rich in details, and as enjoyable to read as it is informative. . . . This book should be of interest to scholars in several fields, including local government, law, public policy, and urban history."—Choice

“After 80 years, Euclid v. Ambler is still the case that defines American land use jurisprudence. Wolf tells a great story, brilliantly showing the intersection of law, politics, and culture.”—Lance Liebman, William S. Beinecke Professor of Law, Columbia University

“Wonderful and compelling, Wolf’s book tells the story of Euclid v. Ambler in detail for the first time.”—Daniel R. Mandelker, author of Planning and Control of Land Development

“A comprehensive, engaging and thoughtful account of this landmark case.”—Alan C. Weinstein, author of Litigation and First Amendment Zoning Issues: Regulation of Signs, Adult Entertainment, and Religious Uses

From the Publisher