Cunnius v. Reading School District

Citations

• 206 Pa. 469
• 56 A. 16
• 1903 Pa. LEXIS 743

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law — Control of property by state — Presumption—Property of absentee — Administrators—Act of June 24, 1885, P. L. 155.</p> <p>The regulation of the title and devolution of property within its limits is within the control and jurisdiction of the state.</p> <p>The rules of evidence for the judicial ascertainment of facts in its courts, and as a corollary, the establishment of legal presumptions, are also within the control and jurisdiction of the state.</p> <p>The state is not bound to have the regular and lawful use and ownership of property subject to the whim of an individual in absenting himself indefinitely or for a yery long period of time from the state.</p> <p>The Act of June 24, 1885, P. L. 155, entitled “ An act relating to the grant of letters of administration upon the estates of persons, presumed to be dead, by reason of long absence from their former domicile,” is constitutional.</p> <p>The appointment of an administrator under the Act of June 24, 1885, P. L 155, is a judicial act by a competent tribunal having jurisdiction of the subject-matter, and therefore cannot be attacked collaterally, but is valid until revoked by direct proceedings as prescribed iu the statute.</p> <p>As the proceedings under the act of 1885 are substantially in rem, for the conservation of property within the jurisdiction of the state, they are due process of law, and the act is constitutional.</p> <p>Where the intent of a statute is plain, and its administration is committed to a court of known and established jurisdiction and methods under prior laws on similar subject-matters, such court is authorized to adapt its ordinary forms to the new requirements, or to devise and employ new ones of analogous kind suitable to carrying out the intent of the act. The orphans’ court is such a court in regard to the act of June 24, 1885,</p>