Law Commons^™

A Proposal To Reform The Michigan Zoning Enabling Act To Allow Amortization Of Nonconforming Uses, Michael Anthony Lawrence

Michael Anthony Lawrence

This article suggests that the Michigan legislature should amend the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act in order to explicitly allow state and local government to amortize nonconforming property uses under limited circumstances. While the current prohibition on amortization protects individual rights and is thus laudable as a liberty-friendly law, it goes too far by categorically refusing to give any account for the public interest.

A revised statute allowing amortization, but only when the government satisfies a substantial burden to demonstrate its “reasonableness,” including a showing that the property to be amortized can be put to reasonable alternate use, would properly recognize …

Toward A More Coherent Dormant Commerce Clause: A Proposed Unitary Framework, Michael Anthony Lawrence

Michael Anthony Lawrence

The Dormant Commerce Clause (DCC), bane of generations of law students, lawyers, judges and state & local legislators, does not lend itself to easy analysis. Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court itself at various times has described its own DCC doctrine as “hopelessly confused,” “a quagmire,” and “not predictable.” This article attempts to aid in simplifying the analytical task by providing a new Unitary Framework taxonomy designed to bring order and improved predictability to the Court’s DCC doctrine.