The constitution goes into minute detail in prohibiting local, private and special legislation.
In the west, general laws came rather as a result of the abuses of special legislation.
The public school system, established in 1846, never was universal, because of special legislation for various counties; public education was retarded during the Civil War and the Reconstruction period (when immense sums appropriated for schools were grossly mismanaged), but conditions gradually improved after 1875, especially through the concentration of schools.
Under the constitution of 1802, municipal corporations were established by special legislation.
The system of classification adopted in time became so elaborate that many municipalities became isolated, each in a separate class, and the evils of special legislation were revived.
