City of Reading v. Reading & Southwestern Street Railway Co.

Citations

• 19 Pa. Super. 202
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 62

Syllabus

<p>Street railways — Paving—Expense of repaving.</p> <p>Legislative contracts are construed most favorably to the public interests in cases of doubt, but where the legislation reserves the right to the municipality to do certain acts involving incidental expenses to one of the parties, silence as to the one who shall pay is not necessarily an imposition of the expense upon the party contracting with the municipality. The right reserved being for the benefit of the municipality, the implication would be strong that should the contingency arise for the exercise of the right, the expense attendant thereupon should be an incident to such exercise. '</p> <p>Where a city ordinance requires a street railway company, in return for the privilege of using streets, to pave the same, and “keep said paving in good repair,” and also provides that the company shall make no obstruction while street improvements are in progress, and that “ if tracks are to be removed or raised during such improvements, the expense thereof, as well as any damage done to the tracks shall be borne by the company,” the ordinance does not impose upon the company the expense of repaving streets where the paving has been torn up for a municipal improvement.</p>