Canfield v. Borough

Citations

• 19 Pa. Super. 649
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 170

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Boroughs—Defective sidewalk.</p> <p>When borough authorities direct a material change in a highway they are bound to maintain such a supervision of the work as will protect the public from any danger likely to arise from it.</p> <p>In an action by a woman against a borough to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by a fall at nighttime at a point where a sidewalk had been raised abruptly between seven and eight inches, the case is for the jury where it appears that the condition of the sidewalk was brought about by a change of grade made by an abutting owner in obedience to a borough ordinance, that the burgess had actual knowledge both of the commencement and the completion of the work, and that the president of the town council observed it during its progress.</p> <p>Negligence — Boroughs—Knoioledge of officials.</p> <p>Whatever the distinction between official and unofficial acts, there is no ground, in either law or fact, for a distinction between the personal knowledge of a borough officer charged with the duties of supervision and his official knowledge. There is no line dividing the physical senses or the intellectual perceptions of the individual from those of the officer. When an officer is bound to act upon knowledge, and the law fixes no channel through which it must reach him in order to impose the duty, the knowledge gained by the individual must be imputed to the officer.</p>