Olyphant Sewage-Drainage Co. v. Borough of Olyphant

Citations

• 196 Pa. 553
• 46 A. 896
• 1900 Pa. LEXIS 554

Syllabus

<p>Corporations — Forfeiture—Collateral attack upon charter — Drainage company.</p> <p>The validity of a charter for public purposes cannot be determined in a collateral proceeding by a private suitor; it can be done .only in a direct proceeding to which the commonwealth is a party.</p> <p>Whether a right or franchise claimed by a corporation is conferred by its charter may be inquired into in a proceeding at law or in equity by a party injured, as provided by the Act of June 19, 1871, P. L, 1361; but whether for any reason the charter of a corporation was originally invalid or has been forfeited is a question which the commonwealth alone can raise.</p> <p>The question whether a drainage company organized under the Act of June 10, 1893, P. L. 436, has forfeited its franchises for failure to complete its works within the time prescribed by the Act of May 16, 1889, P. L. 242, sec. 11, cannot be raised in a suit in equity by the drainage company against a borough to enjoin the latter from preventing the company’s employees from continuing their work.</p>