Commonwealth v. Wilkins

Citations

• 75 Pa. Super. 305
• 1921 Pa. Super. LEXIS 4

Syllabus

<p>Interpretation of statutes — Municipalities — -.Vaccination of school children — Act of June 18,1895, P. L. BOS.</p> <p>The Act of June 18, 1895, P. L. 203, is not a penal statute and is not to be construed or administered by the rigid technical rules applicable to penal laws, but fairly according to its intent, neither narrowing it to the exclusion of cases clearly within such intent or stretching it beyond its legitimate scope to cover matters not clearly meant to be included.</p> <p>A school district is a quasi corporation for the sole purpose of administering the Commonwealth’s system of public schools, and vitally associated with the education of the children in protecting their health, so that it is reasonably embraced within the designation of “municipality.”</p> <p>As such, it is comprehended within the provisions of the title of the Act of 1895, requiring compulsory vaccination for the public health in the “several municipalities” of the Commonwealth.</p>