The 7th Edition continues earlier editions' conceptualization of the role, purposes and substance of Local Government Law. Early chapters both describe the legal characteristics of the myriad local government units and challenge the students to recognize the competing models of local government that undergird both the classic and recent cases in state and federal court. Later chapters take that theoretical understanding to a more practical arena, exploring local government powers, the state-local relationship, local government finance, and local government service provision. The Seventh Edition contains an enhanced treatment of school finance litigation as an emblematic example of interlocal inequality.