Mifflinville Bridge

Citations

• 206 Pa. 420
• 55 A. 1122
• 1903 Pa. LEXIS 736

Syllabus

<p>Railroads — Crossing of highways — Judicial supervision — Act of June 7, 1901.</p> <p>Since the passage of the Act of June 7, 1901, P. L. 631, every grade crossing, whether of one railroad by another, or of a highway by a rail* road, oomes before the court with a heavy burden of proof upon it.</p> <p>The fact that a grade crossing of a railroad over a highway is incidental to the relocation of an existing highway under the act of 1836, does not relieve such crossing from the ban of the first section of the act of June 7, 1901, which provides that “ all crossings hereafter established” shall be above or below grade.</p> <p>The provisions of section 4 of the act of June 7, 1901, which authorizes the court of common pleas to permit grade crossings under certain conditions, must be strictly followed, and there is no substitute for them either in manner or form. Previous proceedings in the quarter sessions, although before the same judge, cannot be considered as a substitute for the proceedings provided for in section 4.</p> <p>On a petition under section 4 of the act of June 7, 1901, to locate a grade crossing of a railroad over the approach to a county bridge, it was alleged that the duties of the county commissioners ended at the bridge, and that the railroad tracks were so far from it that the construction of the crossing would be the work of the township authorities who were not before the court. The court dismissed the petition on the ground that prior proceedings in the quarter sessions under the act of 1836 were conclusive. Held, on appeal, that the decree should be affirmed, not for the reason stated by the court, but by reason of the questions of fact raised, and that the appellant should be turned over to the more plastic and convenient remedy of a bill to enjoin the construction of the bridge in such manner as would require the highway to cross the railroad at grade.</p> <p>It seems that on an appeal from a decree dismissing a petition filed under section