police power
Government regulatory authority
Police power is the authority of government to regulate behavior for public health, safety, and welfare.
In U.S. constitutional law, it refers specifically to powers reserved to states rather than the federal government: zoning laws, licensing requirements, building codes.
The state invoked its police power to mandate vaccinations.
Despite the name, police power has little to do with law enforcement—it's about regulatory authority broadly.
- law and orderGovernance through enforced rules
- public nuisanceOffense harming the community
- noise ordinanceLaw limiting loud sounds
- enforcementCompelling compliance with rules
- jurisdictionLegal authority's scope
governance · Tenth Amendment · zoning laws · safety inspections · eminent domain · authority · sovereignty · state intervention · general welfare · regulation · public safety · health and safety · search · traffic stops · seize · constitutional authority · due process · arrest
- government powerspardon, pardons, eminent domain, impeachment, amnesty
- municipal lawcity ordinances, municipal codes, city charter, city charters, zoning law
- public lawconstitutional law, administrative law, statutory law, statute, code
- central powercentral authority, central government, centralized control, supreme authority, central command
- jurisdictionjurisdiction, legal jurisdiction, federal jurisdiction, state jurisdiction, court jurisdiction
- powerauthority, potency, energy, hydropower, horsepower
police poweranarchy
Disorder from absent authority
lawlessness · statelessness · chaos · disorder · ungovernability
police powerenumerated powers
Authorities explicitly granted by constitution
police powerindividual liberty
One's own protected rights
personal freedom · civil liberties · constitutional rights · fundamental rights · natural rights
police, power, policing, policed, polices, policy, policies, political, politics