Commonwealth v. Broad Street Rapid Transit Street Railway Co.

Citations

• 219 Pa. 11
• 67 A. 958
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 594

Syllabus

<p>Street railways — Use of streets — Broad street in Philadelphia — Acts of March 23, 1866, P. L. 299 — March 27, 1873, P. L. 435 and June 7, 1901, P. L. 514 — Statutes—Repeal of statutes.</p> <p>The Act of March 23, 1866, P. L. 299, prohibiting the laying of any railroad or railway tracks on Broad street in the city of Philadelphia, was repealed by the Act of June 7, 1901, P. L. 514.</p> <p>The Act of March 27, 1873, P. L. 435, which provided that in consideration of the surrender by the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Streets Railway Company of its claims on Broad street, no franchise should be granted thereafter to any street railway company to lay tracks on Broad street, or upon Thirteenth or Fifteenth streets, was repealed by the Act of June 7, 1901, P. L. 514. The legislature could not by the act of 1873, grant away the state’s rights of eminent domain so as to bind future legislatures.</p> <p>When the Act of June 7, 1901, P. L. 514, opened Broad street to occupation by “any railway corporation chartered under this act, or by any company which had abandoned or discontinued the use thereof,” the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Street Railway Company had no superior right to the street, and the privilege of using it was open to all on equal terms, and prior action secured prior right.</p> <p>Constitutional law — Title of statute — Street railways — Act of June 7, 1901, P. L. 514.</p> <p>The Act of June 7, 1901, P. L. 514, amending prior acts relating to street railway companies is sufficiently comprehensive in its title to cover the provisions in the act by which the Act of March 23, 1866, P. L. 299, prohibiting the laying of railway tracks on Broad street in Philadelphia, is repealed.</p> <p>The title of an act need not be, and ought not to be, a complete index of its contents.</p>