Commonwealth v. Monongahela Bridge Co.

Citations

• 216 Pa. 108
• 64 A. 909
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 571

Syllabus

<p>Practice, C. P. — Trial by court without a jury — Act of April 22, 1874— Findings of fact.</p> <p>There is no requirement in the Act of April 22, 1874, P. L. 109, providing for trial by the court without a jury, that the court shall specifically answer upon the record all the requests for findings of fact submitted by counsel. No further answers to requests for findings of fact are required than the statement of the facts found by the court.</p> <p>Corporations — Stock—All stock held by one person — Bridge company.</p> <p>A corporation is an entity irrespective of, and entirely distinct from, the persons who own its stock. All the shares in the corporation may be held by a single person, and yet the corporation continue to exist.</p> <p>The franchises of a corporation organized for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a bridge will not be declared forfeited merely because all of its shares have been acquired and are held by a municipality.</p> <p>Practice, C. P. — Res adjudicata — Cause of action.</p> <p>Where there are two suits between the same parties, but upon different causes of action, the allegations in the pleadings in the first suit are admissible as evidence in the second suit for whatever they are worth, but they are not conclusive.</p> <p>A judgment of a court of concurrent or exclusive jurisdiction is not evidence of any matter incidentally cognizable, nor of any matter to be inferred by argument from the judgment.</p> <p>Corporations — Forfeiture of charter — Caution in proceedings.</p> <p>The courts proceed with extreme caution in proceedings which have for their object the forfeiture of corporate franchises, and a forfeiture will not be allowed, except under express limitation, or for a plain abuse of power by which the corporation fails to fulfill the design and purpose of its organization.</p>