Law Commons^™

Requiring Preservation And Maintenance Of Historical District Is Within Zoning Power, Stephen Roger Kane

Mercer Law Review

In Maher v. New Orleans, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit considered the constitutionality of a municipal zoning ordinance regulating the preservation and maintenance of a historical district. A three-judge panel held that the New Orleans City Council's Vieux Carre Ordinance was constitutional, since it provided enough objective criteria to determine which buildings in the Vieux Carre had historical and architectural value, and that the ordinance did not unconstitutionally take property, either on its face or as applied to Maher.

Regulating Location Of 'Adult Theaters' On Basis Of Film Content Is Constitutional, Alan Parker Layne

Mercer Law Review

In Young v. American Mini Theaters, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5- 4 decision, upheld a Detroit zoning ordinance that regulated the location of theaters exhibiting adult films. The Court rejected due-process and equal-protection arguments and concluded that First-Amendment principles were not offended even though the classification was based upon the content of the films.

On November 2, 1972, Detroit amended an "Anti Skid Row" ordinance enacted approximately ten years earlier.2 The 1972 amendment prohibited the location of "adult theaters" within 1,000 feet of any two other regulated uses.' Theaters exhibiting material that was "distinguished or characterized by …