Com. ex rel. Greene v. Gregg

Citations

• 161 Pa. 582
• 29 A. 297
• 1894 Pa. LEXIS 737

Syllabus

<p>Constitution — General appropriation bill — Prothonotary of Supreme Óourt.</p> <p>•' The general appropriation bill of 1893 appropriating a sum “ for the payment of the salary of a clerk in the offices of the prothonotaries of the Supreme Court,” etc., does not violate section 15, art. 3, of the Constitution, which provides that “the general appropriation bill shall embrace nothing but appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the executive, legislative and judicial departments of the commonwealth.”</p> <p>' The legislature is the exclusive judge of the form in which its enactments shall be put, and its mandate in that respect cannot be questioned unless it transgresses a plain prohibition of the constitution. ... In regard to the particular item under consideration, it appears to be intended to pay for a part of the regular and ordinary work of the offices named, and thei’efore to be for their ordinary expenses. It is a recognition by the legislature that the prothonotary cannot do the whole work of his office proprio manu, and an authority to him to have a portion of it done at the public cost. By Mr. Justice Mitchell.</p>