— Also termed governmental act; governmental activity. See PUBLIC-FUNCTION TEST . Cf. PROPRIETARY FUNCTION. [Cases: Municipal Corporations 724. C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 664.]
“[A]ctivities of police or firefighters, though tortious, are usually considered governmental in the sense that they involve the kind of power expected of the government, even if its exercise in the specific case is wrongful. The city is immune as to such activities for this reason. On the other hand, if the city operates a local electric or water company for which fees are charged, this looks very much like private enterprise and is usually considered pro-prietary…. The difficult distinction between governmental and proprietary functions is even more troubling where the city’s conduct combines both kinds of function at once. For example, operation of a sanitary sewer may be deemed governmental, but operation of a storm sewer may be deemed proprietary.” W. Page Keeton et al., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 131, at 1053–54 (5th ed. 1984).
