Herrington's Petition

Citations

• 266 Pa. 88
• 109 A. 791
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 505

Syllabus

<p>Road law — Townships of the first class — Grading—Damages— Eminent domain — Acts of April 28, 1899, P. L. 101/, and June 7, 1901, P. L. 510.</p> <p>1. Land condemned for road purposes is regarded a little differently from land taken for other public uses, inasmuch as in the original grant from the Commonwealth it was subject to six per cent allowance for roads, and compensation for taking or injury was a matter of grace, not of right.</p> <p>2. A township is not liable for damages occasioned by the appropriation of private property for the construction of public highways, nor for injuries resulting therefrom, in the absence of legislation for compensation.</p> <p>3. Although townships of the first class may be said to have a qualified power of eminent domain, they do not have the exclusive power to take land for highways, and such right as they do possess is not coequal with the power as it is enjoyed by municipalities recognized by the constitutional provision. Such power is limited and controlled by the courts.</p> <p>4. The term “municipality” as used in the Constitution does not include all government agencies having authority to take or injure private property for use as a public highway, but such only as are municipalities with local and subordinate powers of self-government through their own legislation, and to which the features of police power appertain as an incident of government. It does not include quasi-corporations such as a township. When the latter is given authority, or a qualified authority, to take land for a highway, the enabling act must provide for compensation, with a remedy to recover it. When'the authority is exercised, the remedy provided must be strictly followed and the act itself strictly construed.</p> <p>5. The terms opening and grading have a distinct meaning in the law and damages for grading is not an incident inseparable from opening and laying out.</p> <p>6. A resident of a township of the first class whose land abuts oil a st