Hedrick v. Harrisburg

Citations

• 278 Pa. 274
• 122 A. 281
• 1923 Pa. LEXIS 511

Syllabus

<p>Municipalities — Vacation of street — Abutting property — Gutting off access — Gul-de-sac—Damages—Acts of May 28,1918, P. L. 868, and June 21, 1918, P. L. 688.</p> <p>1. Liability for damages to property owners, arising from tbe vacation of a street, may be imposed by tbe legislature upon tbe municipality in wbicb the street is situated, and is legally so imposed by tbe Acts of May 28, 1913, P. L. 368, and June 27, 1913, P. L. 633.</p> <p>2. Tbe general language of these statutes does not impose liability for tbe vacation of a street, if there is an intersecting street between tbe property alleged to be damaged and tbe portion of tbe street vacated, and tbe effect of tbe vacation is not to cut ofE access to the general system of streets from any direction, but only to make it necessary to travel a short distance further to reach them.</p> <p>3. Where, however, tbe effect of tbe vacation is to put a plaintiff’s property in a cul-de-sac, be may recover damages for tbe vacation of tbe street, even though the property does not abut directly upon the part which has been vacated.</p> <p>Statutes — Construction—Judicial construction of words — Words and phrases — Presumption.</p> <p>4. Where words and phrases appearing in a statute have received judicial construction, and are later used in a cognate statute, the presumption is that they were intended to be similarly interpreted.</p>