Cite as: 523 U. S. 44 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
all the immunities of government, and are exempt from all liability for their mistaken use." Ibid.
Treatises of that era confirm that this was the pervasive view. A leading treatise on municipal corporations explained that "[w]here the officers of a municipal corporation are invested with legislative powers, they are exempt from individual liability for the passage of any ordinance within their authority, and their motives in reference thereto will not be inquired into." 1 J. Dillon, Law of Municipal Corporations § 313, pp. 326-327 (3d ed. 1881) (emphasis in original). Thomas Cooley likewise noted in his influential treatise on the law of torts that the "rightful exemption" of legislators from liability was "very plain" and applied to members of "inferior legislative bodies, such as boards of supervisors, county commissioners, city councils, and the like." Cooley 376; see also J. Bishop, Commentaries on the Non-Contract Law § 744 (1889) (noting that municipal legislators were immune for their legislative functions); Mechem §§ 644-646 (same); Throop, supra n. 4, § 709, at 671 (same).
Even the authorities cited by respondent are consistent with the view that local legislators were absolutely immune for their legislative, as distinct from ministerial, duties. In the few cases in which liability did attach, the courts emphasized that the defendant officials lacked discretion, and the duties were thus ministerial. See, e. g., Morris v. The People, 3 Denio 381, 395 (N. Y. 1846) (noting that the duty was "of a ministerial character only"); Caswell v. Allen, 7 Johns. 63, 68 (N. Y. 1810) (holding supervisors liable because the act was "mandatory" and "[n]o discretion appear[ed] to [have been] given to the supervisors"). Respondent's heavy reliance on our decision in Amy v. Supervisors, 11 Wall. 136 (1871), is misguided for this very reason. In that case, we held that local legislators could be held liable for violating a court order to levy a tax sufficient to pay a judgment, but only because the court order had created a ministerial duty. Id., at 138 ("The rule is well settled, that where the law re-
51
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007