McKeesport v. Pittsburgh, McKeesport & Connellsville Ry. Co.

Citations

• 238 Pa. 591
• 86 A. 484
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 1016

Syllabus

<p>Municipalities — Ordinances—Repeal—General and special ordinances — Street railway company — License taxes — Affidavits of defense — Rule for judgment.</p> <p>1. A special ordinance granting to a street railway company the right to use and occupy certain streets in a city upon condition that said company “shall pay $50 per year for each car running upon its tracks,” is not repealed by a general ordinance subsequently passed providing that, after a certain date, “every company or corporation operating a street car passenger railway or railways in the city shall pay to the said city as hereafter provided in this ordinance an annual license tax of fifty dollars ($50.00) per car, for each and every car used and operated regularly on the line or lines of such company or corporation, in the said city,” and the city may recover in an action of assumpsit against the corporate successor of the company the payments imposed by the special ordinance, it further appearing that the defendant company did not operate any cars, it having leased its line to another company.</p> <p>2. In such a case an affidavit of defense setting up merely such repeal of the special ordinance is insufficient to prevent judgment for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense.</p>