Doverspike v. Magee

Citations

• 51 Pa. Super. 525
• 1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 253

Syllabus

<p>Public officers — Municipalities—Cities of the second class — Civil service — Policemen and firemen — Removal—Compensation—Acts ■ of March 7,1901, P. L. 20, and May 23,'1907, P. L. 206 — Mandamus.</p> <p>1. The Act of May 23, 1907, P. L. 206, entitled, “An Act to regulate and improve the civil service of cities of the second class,” etc., applies to policemen and firemen, and confers upon the civil service commission powers not only as to the appointment of such employees, but also as to their removal.</p> <p>2. The provisions of the Act of May 23, 1907, that nothing in the act “shall alter the procedure required for the removal or punishment of policemen and firemen, as provided by the Act of March 7, 1901, P. L. 20, does not prevent the civil service commission from setting aside the dismissal of a fireman or policeman after his trial by a court of inquiry as provided by the act of 1901, where such trial has not been conducted according to law.</p> <p>3. Where a policeman has been dismissed as a result of a trial by a court of inquiry, and the civil service commission sets aside the finding of the court as invalid and directs a new trial which results in another adverse decision to the policeman, the city councils may appropriate a sum sufficient to pay him his wages for the time during which it appeared he had been improperly deprived of his office; and if the mayor and controller refuse to issue the necessary warrant for such payment, they may be compelled to do so by mandamus.</p> <p>4. Such a payment is justified, if for no other reason by the fact that the question presented to the city councils, when they authorized it, was one of a settlement and payment of a doubtful claim.</p>