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The City Of Philadelphia And Philadelphia 's Home Rule Charter Of 1951

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States also have the authority to delegate their police powers to Municipalities. Pennsylvania 's Constitution, states that a “municipality which has a home rule charter may exercise any power or perform any function not denied by [this Constitution], by its home rule charter or by the General Assembly at any time”. Thus the City of Philadelphia draws its police powers from the state in the same way states draw their power from the Constitution. Section 5-300(a) of Philadelphia’s Home Rule Charter of 1951 provides that the City Department of Public Health shall administer and enforce statutes, ordinances and regulations relating to public health including those dealing with the pursuit of occupations affecting the public health”.
In Warren v. Philadelphia, the court stated that under its police powers, a state or its municipalities may enact statutes and ordinances for the welfare and health of its citizens provided the ordinance is not unreasonable or arbitrary. In that case, the petitioners argued that police powers rest with the state and that the police power that the city was attempting to exert had not been properly delegated to the city. In deciding the case, the court looked to the Home Rule Act of 1949, which stated that "The charter of any city adopted or amended in accordance with this act may provide … for the exercise of any and all powers relating to its municipal functions, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States or of this Commonwealth,

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