Dewey v. Luzerne County

Citations

• 74 Pa. Super. 300
• 1920 Pa. Super. LEXIS 146

Syllabus

<p>Public officers — Increase of salary — Chief deputy sheriff.</p> <p>Tbe term “Public Officer” is not restricted to officers created by constitutional provision, but applies to officers, who exercise important public duties, for a stipulated compensation paid out of the public treasury and whose duties affect and are to be exercised for the benefit of the public.</p> <p>Chief deputy sheriffs are public officers within the meaning of section 13, article III, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania which provides “No law shall extend the term of any public officer, or increase or diminish his salary or emoluments after his election or appointment.” Such officers are not entitled to the benefit of the Act of June 8, 1915, P. L. 915, which fixes the salaries of chief deputy sheriffs of counties of more than 250,000 and less than 400,-000 at $2,500 per annum.</p> <p>Case stated — Public officers — Determination of status — Separate actions.</p> <p>On a case stated to determine the rights of a deputy sheriff to an increased salary, the rights of other deputies to other offices deriving their authority from different acts of assembly and having no relation to one another, cannot be decided in the same action. Such officers have no joint right nor have they any right in common, because some of them may be public officers within the meaning of the constitutional provision, while others may not be such officers. They cannot be permitted, for the purposes of testing their rights to increased salaries, to join in one action.</p>