In re Annexation of a Portion of Porter Township

Citations

• 75 Pa. Super. 543
• 1921 Pa. Super. LEXIS 60

Syllabus

<p>Boroughs — Annexation <of territory — Validity of proceeding— Method to determine — Act of May lit, 1915, P. L. 812 (Borough Code).</p> <p>The legality of proceedings to annex territory adjacent to a borough, under sections 18 and 19 of chapter III, of article I, of the Act of May 14, 1915, P. L. 312 (Borough Code), may be tested by the freeholders of the annexed territory upon an attempt of the borough to enforce an ordinance relating to the annexed territory. Such a remedy may be invoked by the party aggrieved whenever the ordinance is attempted to be enforced, and proceedings must not necessarily be brought to the next term of the court of quarter sessions following the passage of the ordinance.</p> <p>Under the provisions of section 9 of chapter YH, article I, of the Borough Code, a remedy by complaint to the court of quarter sessions is provided in such case, and this remedy is exclusive. The court may inquire, if the question is raised, whether the petition of the borough was actually gigned by a majority of the freeholders of the territory proposed to be annexed, and, whether the ordinance followed the petition and complied with the legal requirements as to its passage, approval and recording; and whether the other requisites relative to filing a certified copy of said ordinance, and the description of plot showing the courses and distances of the boundaries of the borough before and after gueh annexation in the court of quarter sessions, and notice of such filing given the county commissioners had been complied with. All these matters were the subject of inquiry in a court of equity and are now reviewable by a court of quarter sessions, but it may not, however, substitute its judgment or discretion for that of the borough authorities, as it is concerned only with the legality, and not the wisdom of their action.</p> <p>Where the complaint to the quarter sessions averred that the petition to the borough council had not been gigned by a majority of the free