Moritz's Contested Election

Citations

• 256 Pa. 537
• 100 A. 1033
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 654

Syllabus

<p>Bonds — Surety bonds — Seals—Necessity of seal.</p> <p>1. A bond is a deed. What makes it a deed is the fact that it is sealed by the obligor; -except as sealed, it is not a bond.</p> <p>Elections — Election contests — Jurisdiction of court — Time for filing bond — Amendment after time for filing.</p> <p>2. The Act of April .28, 1899, P. L. 118, providing in effect that when a petition to contest an election shall be presented it shall be the duty of the petitioners within ten days thereafter to file a bond signed by at least five of the petitioners contemplates the filing of an instrument under seal. A paper purporting to be a bond but not sealed does not comply with the statute; it is not material that the seal was omitted through inadvertanee and the defect cannot be cured by amendment after the time for the filing of a bond has expired. 1</p> <p>8. In order to give the Quarter Sessions Court jurisdiction to hear and determine questions raised by a petition for an election contest it is essential that a bond should be filed within ten days after the filing of the petition. A paper providing that protection which the statute intended to secure, but not under seal, does not furnish the requisites to give the court jurisdiction of the petition, and although such paper has been filed within ten days after the filing of the petition, the petition should be dismissed at the expiration of the ten days if no obligation under seal has been filed. In such case the court has no jurisdiction to make an order permitting the filing of an amended bond after the expiration of ten days from the filing of the petition.</p>