Philadelphia Clay Co. v. York Clay Co.

Citations

• 241 Pa. 305
• 88 A. 487
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 781

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law — Right of eminent domain — Public or private use — Tramways—Private roads — Mining operations — Act of May 5, 1911, P. L. 167.</p> <p>1. Eminent domain is the sovereign power vested in the Commonwealth to take private property for public use. It is a reservation in the grant of land by the State to a private owner and is paramount to the right of ownership in the individual. The power is not necessarily created either by Constitution or statute, but is an inherent attribute of sovereignty itself.</p> <p>2. Tinder the right of eminent domain private property can only he taken for a public use, and it is not within the power of the legislature to invest either an individual or a corporation with the right to take the property of a private owner for the private use of some other individual or corporation, even if a method is provided for ascertaining the damages and paying what shall be deemed just compensation.</p> <p>3. The Act of May 5, 1911, P. L. 167, conferring upon an individual, firm or corporation entitled to the use of a private road the right to construct a tramway on it for certain purposes, does not declare the purpose for which the tramway is to be constructed a public use, and the question is one to be decided by the courts upon its merits under the facts and the law.</p> <p>4. The Act of May 5, 1911, P. L. 167, which provides that in Certain cases relating to mining operations, tramways and other devices for moving products may be placed upon private roads laid out under the authority of the Acts of April 4, 1901, P. L. 65, and May 17, 1901, P. L. 259, does not authorize the construction upon a private road a tramway by a private business corporation having no authority to build and operate tramways to serve the public, where it appears that the public at large could not possibly make use of the tramway for the purpose of operating cars upon it, nor could the public demand as a matter of right that the owner should become a common