t
lifting the bar of a statute of limitation so as to restore a remedy
lost through mere lapse of time is _per se_ an offense against the
Fourteenth Amendment."[441]

Man's Best Friend

A statute providing that no dog shall be entitled to the protection of
the law unless placed upon the assessment rolls, and that in a civil
action for killing a dog the owner cannot recover beyond the value fixed
by himself in the last assessment preceding the killing is within the
police power of the State.[442]

Control of Local Units of Government

The Fourteenth Amendment does not deprive a State of the power to
determine what duties may be performed by local officers, nor whether
they shall be appointed or popularly elected.[443] Its power over the
rights and property of cities held and used for governmental purposes
was unaltered by the ratification thereof.[444] Thus, notwithstanding
that it imposes liability irrespective of the power of a city to have
prevented the violence, a statute requiring cities to indemnify owners
of property damaged by mobs or during riots effects no unconstitutional
deprivation of the property of such municipalities.[445] Likewise, a
person obtaining a judgment against a municipality for damages
resulting from a riot is not deprived of property without due process
of law by an act which so limits the municipality's taxing power as to
prevent collection of funds adequate to pay it. As long as the judgment
continues as an existing liability unconstitutional deprivation is
experienced.[446]

Local units of government obliged to surrender property to other units
newly created out of the territory of the former cannot successfully
invoke the due process clause,[447] nor may taxpayers allege any
unconstitutional deprivation as the result of changes in their tax
burden attendant upon the consolidation of contiguous
municipalities.[448] Nor is a statute requiring counties to reimburse
cities of the first class but not other classes for rebates allowed for
prompt payment of taxes in conflict with the due process clause.[449]

TAXATION

In General

It was not contemplated that the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment
would restrain or cripple the taxing power of the States.[450] Rather,
the purpose of the amendment was to extend to the residents of the
States the same protection against arbitrary State legislation affecting
life, liberty, and property as was afforded against Congress by the
Fif