Commonwealth v. Congdon

Citations

• 74 Pa. Super. 286
• 1920 Pa. Super. LEXIS 140

Syllabus

<p>Summary conviction — Sunday baseball — Justice of the peace — • Appeals to quarter sessions.</p> <p>In cases of summary conviction, the court of quarter sessions has discretionary power to allow or refuse an appeal, but if the appeal has not been vacated or dismissed upon cause shown, the parties are entitled to a hearing upon such relevant and material evidence pertaining to the charge, as they produce, and to the judgment of the court based on the facts established thereby, and the law applicable to those facts. To grant the appeal is discretionary, but to accord the parties such hearing, under the circumstances, is not discretionary but demandable.</p> <p>On an appeal from a summary conviction for playing baseball on Sunday, the defendant is entitled to the distinct and unequivocal judgment of the court below, upon the facts and the law applicable to those 'facts, and an order which merely affirmed the judgment of the magistrate will be reversed, and the record remitted, in order that the case may be heard, and judgment entered as the law and the evidence require.</p>