General ideas are no proof of the strength, but rather of the insufficiency of the human intellect; for there are in nature no beings exactly alike, no things precisely identical, no rules indiscriminately and alike applicable to several objects at once. The chief merit of general ideas is that they enable the human mind to pass a rapid judgment on a great many objects at once; but, on the other hand, the notions they convey are never other than incomplete, and they always cause the mind to lose as much in accuracy as it gains in comprehensiveness.II ALEXIS DE TOcQUEvILLE, DEMOCRAcY IN AMERICA 13 (Bradley ed. 1946)....The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted, and harmonious development of the municipality and its environs which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity, and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development; including, among other things, adequate provision for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire and other dangers, adequate provision for light and air, the promotion of the healthful and convenient distribution of population, the promotion of good civic design and arrangement, wise and efficient expenditure of public funds, and the adequate provision of public utilities and other public requirements.U. S. DEP'T oF COMMERCE, A STANDARD CITY PLANNING ENABLING AcT §7 (1928).City planning in this country has witnessed a combination of professions and talents rare in any reform movement. From the outset sound legislation was recognized as essential for the development programs of the "new city." Great impetus was lent to erecting a legal framework for land planning by the United States Department of Commerce, which, through its Advisory Committees, promulgated and popularized standard enabling legislation for city planning and zoning 1 Consequently, the theory of city planning 2 has had a decisive imprint in at least one area -state enabling legislation permitting municipalities to plan for and control the uses of land within their corporate areas.Today enabling legislation for urban planning exists in all states but three.
3' I wish to acknowledge the assistance given by conversations with Professors Ayres Brinser, John M. Gaus, and Louis Wettmore, and by the collaboration of Emanuel L. Gordon, Esq., and of Ramond L.
