Grier v. Borough of Homestead

Citations

• 6 Pa. Super. 542
• 1898 Pa. Super. LEXIS 194

Syllabus

<p>Municipal law — Evidence—Proof of ordinance — Burden of proof.</p> <p>It is not necessary to prove the preliminary steps taken in passing and publishing a municipal ordinance, the ordinance book is prima facie evidence of the validity of the ordinance, and if anything essential to its validity has been omitted in passing or publishing it, it devolves upon the party resisting it to show such invalidity.</p> <p>Practice, Superior Court — Defective assignment of error — Bule XVII.</p> <p>Defective assignments of error which are in direct violation of Rule XVII of the Superior Court will not be considered.</p> <p>Evidence — Road law — Measure of damages.</p> <p>A witness in a land damage case must give his estimate of the money value of the injury, by contrasting the market value of the property, as it was before thé injury was inflicted, with its value immediately after the injury; and the jury should be instructed that the difference in these values is the measure of damage.</p> <p>Land damage cases — Evidence—Competency of witness.</p> <p>In land damage cases the positive requirements for a competent witness are: personal knowledge of the property and of its market value at the time it was taken. In order that a witness may be competent to testify intelligently as to the market value of the land he should have some special opportunity for observation ; he should in a general way and to a reasonable extent have in his mind the data from which a proper estimate of the value could be made.</p> <p>Appeals — Evidence—Effect of admission of incompetent testimony.</p> <p>The fact that sufficient competent testimony was admitted on the trial to sustain the verdict, is no antidote for the error of admitting incompetent testimon}', since an appellate court cannot determine either the effect given by the jury to that which should not have been before them, or whether the verdict was not due wholly to the incompetent testimony.</p>