What are Limits of Jurisdiction?

Montana law imposes both territorial limits and subject matter limits on the governing authority of municipal governments. For example, ordinances adopted by the council do not, in general, apply outside of the defined city or town territorial limits of the municipality. However, there are certain exceptions to this rule such as the authority of the mayor to enforce health and quarantine ordinances within five miles of the city or town boundaries if empowered to do so by an ordinance, which has also been approved by the county commission. Additionally, a municipal government may, under certain circumstances, exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction by extending the application of its zoning or subdivision regulations beyond its limits in any direction subject to distance limits based upon the classification of the city or town. Subject matter limits on the jurisdiction of a municipality are set forth explicitly in Chapter 1, Part 1, Title 7, especially. For example, local governments(including those with self-government powers) are specifically denied the following:

• Any power that applies to or affects the public-school system;

• Any power that defines an offense as a felony or fixes a penalty for a misdemeanor in excess of a fine of $500 or a sentence of six months imprisonment

• Any power that affects the right to keep and bear firearms, except the power to regulate the carrying of a concealed weapon.

Local government officials are specifically denied numerous other governing powers and still other powers require a specific delegation by the legislature, notably certain taxation powers. In general, these provisions of law are a prohibition on local governments from acting except as provided by law. These prohibitions also extend to those units of municipal government that possess self‐government powers.