50
Opinion of the Court
their discretionary decisions. Wilson v. New York, 1 Denio 595 (1845). The court explained that when a local legislator exercises discretionary powers, he "is exempt from all responsibility by action for the motives which influence him, and the manner in which such duties are performed. If corrupt, he may be impeached or indicted, but the law will not tolerate an action to redress the individual wrong which may have been done." Id., at 599.4 These principles, according to the court, were "too familiar and well settled to require illustration or authority." Id., at 599-600.
Shortly after § 1983 was enacted, the Mississippi Supreme Court reached a similar conclusion, holding that town aldermen could not be held liable under state law for their role in the adoption of an allegedly unlawful ordinance. Jones v. Loving, 55 Miss. 109, 30 Am. Rep. 508 (1877). The court explained that "[i]t certainly cannot be argued that the motives of the individual members of a legislative assembly, in voting for a particular law, can be inquired into, and its supporters be made personally liable, upon an allegation that they acted maliciously towards the person aggrieved by the passage of the law." Id., at 111, 30 Am. Rep., at 509. The court thus concluded that "[w]henever the officers of a municipal corporation are vested with legislative powers, they hold and exercise them for the public good, and are clothed with
4 The court distinguished "discretionary" duties, which were protected absolutely, and "ministerial" duties, which were not. Although the court described the former as "judicial" in nature, it was merely using the term broadly to encompass the "discretionary" acts of officials. See 1 Denio, at 599 ("[I]f his powers are discretionary, to be exerted or withheld, according to his own view of what is necessary and proper, they are in their nature judicial"). The legislators' actions in Wilson were unquestionably legislative in both form and substance. Thus, Wilson was widely, and correctly, cited as a leading case regarding legislative immunity. See, e. g., T. Cooley, Law of Torts 377, n. 1 (1880) (hereinafter Cooley); F. Mechem, Law of Public Offices and Officers § 644, p. 431, n. 1 (1890) (hereinafter Mechem); M. Throop, Law Relating to Public Officers § 709, p. 671, n. 1 (1892).
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