Canton Borough v. Williams

Citations

• 67 Pa. Super. 239
• 1917 Pa. Super. LEXIS 378

Syllabus

<p>Rond law — Public highway — Public use — Sidewalk.</p> <p>A property owner sued by a borough for the cost of constructing a sidewalk, cannot claim that the street on which the sidewalk was constructed was not a public highway, where the evidence shows that the street had been used as a public highway long before the incorporation of the borough, and that for thirty years subsequently to the incorporation, it had been maintained by the borough authorities, although never dedicated to public use by the owners of the land, nor formally accepted by the borough. The rights of the public in such a street are, however, founded only upon prescription, and are confined to the limits established by the public use. There is no presumption that it is of uniform width, or that it'is straight.</p> <p>Assessments for the construction and maintenance of sidewalks involve an exercise of the police power, not of the taxing power; it is, therefore, immaterial whether the property is rural or urban, and the municipality is not required to establish that the abutting property was peculiarly benefited by the improvement; nor can the owner claim that the property was farm land, and not properly included within borough limits.</p> <p>When the legislature confers upon a municipality the power to pass an ordinance to compel property owners to repair a sidewalk, an ordinance passed pursuant thereto cannot he impeached as invalid because it would have been regarded as unreasonable if passed under the incidental power'of .the corporation, or under a grant of power general in'- its nature. An ordinance requiring' property owners to repair sidewalks, and if they neglect to do .so, after five days’ notice, to charge them with the cost of repairs made by the borough, is a valid ordinance.</p> <p>Where a property owner receives such notice, neglects to repair, and a suit is brought against her by the borough for the costs of the repairs, she cannot set up as a defense that the time given was not