Municipal Home Rule and the Conditions of Justifiable Secession

This Article suggests a uniform standard by which domestic legislatures may decide current and future secession cases. Part I discusses the philosophical and legal foundations of the Home Rule principle and its relationship to secession. Part II considers secession as a political and legal concept, its underpinnings and the moral arguments on both sides of secession debates. Part III suggests a unified standard by which legislatures may consider secession attempts; and Part IV applies this standard to our prototypical Staten Island case.

The article concludes that if the New York State legislature were to apply these uniform criteria to review the Staten Island case, it would approve secession.