Carlisle & Mechanicsburg Street Railway Company's Appeal

Citations

• 54 Pa. Super. 311
• 1913 Pa. Super. LEXIS 61

Syllabus

<p>Street railways- — Municipal consent — Conditional consent — Boroughs • — Validity of borough ordinance — Jurisdiction—Quarter Sessions — Con'stitutional law — Article XVII, sec. 9.</p> <p>1. Article XVII, sec. 9, of the constitution which provides that “No street passenger railway shall be constructed within the limits of any city, borough or township without the consent of its local authorities,” gives a borough the power to impose conditions upon a street railway company as a consideration for the consent given, and an ordinance giving such consent and imposing such conditions cannot be set aside by the court of quarter sessions, as unreasonable, illegal and void. The jurisdiction of the court is limited to the review of ordinances and regulations done, or purporting to be done in the exercise of some power conferred upon the borough by statute. It does not apply to a grant of power directly from the constitution to municipalities.</p> <p>2. Where a borough grants its consent to a street railway on condition of certain annual payments during ten years “at the expiration of which period the council reserves the right to regulate and determine the future annual payment,” and the borough after expiration of such period fixes by ordinance the annual payment at a much larger amount, and such ordinance states that the payment is “solely for the rights and privileges granted,” in the previous ordinance, designated by its number, the court of quarter sessions has no jurisdiction to set aside the later ordinance as unreasonable, illegal and void.</p>