Glenfield Borough v. Manufacturers Light & Heat Co.

Citations

• 243 Pa. 348
• 90 A. 158
• 1914 Pa. LEXIS 626

Syllabus

<p>Equity — Equity jurisdiction — Boroughs—Gas companies — Contracts — Bights of strangers — Remedy at law.</p> <p>1. Whether the repeal of an earlier ordinance granting a franchise to a gas company on condition that it furnish churches with free gas, by a later ordinance granting the same franchise without the condition, puts an end to the gas company’s obligation to furnish free gas, is a pure question of law and is not á subject to be inquired into in equity.</p> <p>2. Where a borough granted a gas company a franchise in its streets under an ordinance stipulating that free gas should be furnished to the churches of the borough, and upon the refusal of the company to furnish free gas a mandatory injunction was awarded the churches compelling the company to furnish free gas, and thereafter the ordinance was repealed with the consent of the gas company and a new ordinance adopted conferring the same privileges as those which were conferred by the former ordinance, but imposing no obligation to supply free gas to the churches, and the gas company petitioned for a dissolution of the injunction, the court erred in refusing the petition as it appeared that the churches were not parties to the contract between the borough and the gas company, were strangers to the consideration, and had incurred no expense in reliance upon the ordinance, and whatever rights they had could be easily and accurately ascertained at law.</p>