Kelley v. Cumberland County

Citations

• 229 Pa. 289
• 78 A. 276
• 1910 Pa. LEXIS 584

Syllabus

<p>Road law — Counties—County road — Negligence—Prison board — Prisoner working on roads — Act of May 25, 1907, P. L. 247.</p> <p>1. Apart from the Acte of June 26, 1895, P. L. 336, April 15, 1903, P. L. 188, and May 25, 1907, P. L. 247, no legislative warrant can bo found for county interference with public roads or the imposition of any charge upon the counties for their maintenance.</p> <p>2. A county is not liable for injuries caused by negligence in repairing a public road within the county undertaken by the prison board of the county in supposed pursuance of the provisions of the Act of May 25, 1907, F. L. 247.</p> <p>3. The Act of May 25, 1907, F. L. 247, gives full power and authority to the prison board to employ male prisoners in work on the public highways, but it is a power the employment of which is left wholly in the discretion of the board. Its exercise is not a duty enjoined by the statute. This being the case it acts only in a discretionary way, and cannot make the county liable for a negligent act m repairing the road.</p> <p>4. A municipal corporation is not impliedly liable to an action for damages either for the nonexercise of or for the manner in which in good faith it exercises discretionary power of a public or legislative character.</p> <p>5. Even if the prison board were a county agency it could only make the county liable where the work done by the board was for the benefit and advantage of the county in its corporate capacity; and the repairing of a road is not such a benefit or advantage.</p>