State Motor Vehicle Franchise Legislation: A Survey and Due Process Challenge to Board Composition

This Note briefly traces the rise of the franchise as the primary automobile distribution device, the problems that confronted early dealers, and their subsequent inability to secure judicial relief. After examining dealers\u27 efforts in the legislatures and the resulting statutes this Note points out several infirmities that exist regarding state automobile franchise regulation. The Note then focuses upon a particular constitutional challenge to state automobile franchise legislation. Finally, the Note concludes that such legislation is either genuinely ineffective or leads to the anomalous result that dealers assume more powerful positions with respect to their manufacturers through unconstitutional means. Based upon these conclusions, the Note proposes reform and/or abolition of state and federal regulation of manufacturer-dealer franchise relationships