Document Type
Article
Publication Title
George Washington Law Review
Abstract
This Article investigates the corporate law background of the Necessary and Proper Clause. It turns out that corporate charters of the colonial and early Federal periods bristled with similar clauses, often attached to grants of rulemaking power. Analysis of these charters suggests the following: the Necessary and Proper Clause does not confer general legislative power; does not grant Congress unilateral discretion to determine the scope of its authority; requires that there be a reasonably close connection between constitutionally recognized ends and legislative means; and requires that federal law may not, without adequate justification, discriminate against or otherwise disproportionately affect the interests of particular citizens vis-a-vis others. Although the historical evidence reported in this Article is by no means conclusive as to the meaning of the Necessary and Proper Clause today, it does provide valuable information about the meaning that lawyers of the Framing period would have attributed to the words of this important constitutional provision.
First Page
1
Volume
79
Publication Date
2010
Recommended Citation
Geoffrey P. Miller,
The Corporate Law Background of the Necessary and Proper Clause,
79
George Washington Law Review
1
(2010).
Available at:
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-articles/778
