Dixon v. Sheffer

Citations

• 46 Pa. Super. 452
• 1911 Pa. Super. LEXIS 295

Syllabus

<p>Health laws — Pollution of stream — Department of health — Notice—Appeals — Acts of April 22,1906, P. L. 260, and April 27,'1906, P. L. S12.</p> <p>1. The privilege of discharging obpoxious sewerage into the waters of the state is a matter of public concern, and it is within the police power of the state to declare that this privilege is one which ought not to be exercised by private individuals, but only by the state or its governmental agents, the municipalities, acting under the direct control of the state.</p> <p>2. The practice provided by the Acts of April 22, 1905, P. L. 260, and April 27,1905, P. L. 312, of notice from the commissioner of health to persons polluting waters, and an appeal to the common pleas, is clearly within the authority given by the constitution of the state to the legislature in exercising its powers over all subjects on which legislation is not prohibited.</p> <p>3. Where an owner of a manufacturing plant occupied by a very large number of employees permits the sewerage from toilet closets, used by the employees, to pass into a stream flowing through a thickly populated region, and furnishing to a large community all water used for domestic purposes, such owner will after notice from the commissioner of health and appeal to the common pleas, be ordered to abate the nuisance and discontinue the discharge of such sewerage.</p>