Du Bois Borough v. Du Bois City Water Works Co.

Citations

• 176 Pa. 430
• 35 A. 248
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 1094

Syllabus

<p>Equity — Rescission of contract — Fraud.</p> <p>The grounds on which equity interferes for rescission of contract are distinctly marked, and every case proper for this branch of its jurisdiction is reducible to a particular head. They are principally fraud, mistake, turpitude of consideration, and circumstances entitling to relief on the principle of quia timet.</p> <p>Equity — Mutual mistake — •Rescission of contract — Water companies.</p> <p>A contract between a borough and a water company provided that water for the borough supply should be drawn only from certain designated land. It subsequently turned out that there was not sufficient water on the land designated to supply the borough. Held, that the failure of the water company to furnish the borough a sufficient supply of water, arising as it did from a mutual mistake of the parties, was not sufficient to justify a court of equity in canceling the contract.</p> <p>Water companies — Act of April 29, 1874 — Parties.</p> <p>The act of April 29, 1874, P. L. 94, by which the courts of common pleas are authorized on bill filed by any citizen using the water, alleging impurity or deficiency, to compel a water company to correct the evils complained of, applies to water companies which have made contracts to supply municipalities with water, and under the act a municipality has the same right as a citizen to file a bill in equity to compel a water company to correct abuses.</p>