Philadelphia County v. Sheehan

Citations

• 263 Pa. 449
• 107 A. 14
• 1919 Pa. LEXIS 452

Syllabus

<p>' Constitutional law — Local and special laws — County affairs — ■ Public officers — Salary—Register of wills — Act of July 21, 1918, P. L. 878 — Estoppel.</p> <p>1. The Act of July 21, 1913, P. L. 878, fixing-the salary of the register of wills in counties having a population of one million five hundred thousand at $10,000 a year, and providing that all fees or commissions of every kind received for services performed, either for the county, State, or otherwise, shall be paid into the county treasury, although general in form, is a local statute regulating county affairs, and therefore is in violation of Article ill, oSection 1, of the Constitution which prohibits the passage of any local or special law regulating the affairs of counties.</p> <p>2. A statute applicable to counties only of a specified population will be construed to be local and special, where the subject matter of the statute has no relation to the population of the counties.</p> <p>. 3. An officer who asserts the unconstitutionality of a statute fixing his salary and providing that all commissions and fees collected for services should be paid into the county treasury is not estopped from setting up such claim as a defense in an action brought by the county treasurer to recover the commissions, merely because he entered into an agreement with the county treasurer, to the effect that, pending the- determination of the constitutionality of the statute by the courts, he should be paid his salary as fixed by the statute, and that the commissions should be deposited in, a separate account and paid over or not, as the’ question of the constitutionality of the statute might be determined.</p>