Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co. v. Walton

Citations

• 248 Pa. 381
• 94 A. 79
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 582

Syllabus

<p>Courts — Municipal courts — City of first class — Procedure—Act of July 12, 1918, P. L. Ill, Section 12 — Validity—Constitution of Pennsylvania, Article III, Section 7.</p> <p>1. The legislature has power not only to create a municipal court for the County of Philadelphia, hut also to make such changes in the procedure before the new tribunal as the changed circumstances appear to require, and said changes are not violative of Article III, Section 7 oí the Constitution, forbidding the legislature to pass any local or special law regulating the practice or jurisdiction in any judicial proceeding or inquiry before the courts. Section 12 of the Act of July 12, 1913, P. L. 711, regulating the practice in municipal courts in cities of the first class, is constitutional.</p> <p>2. There is nothing in the Constitution requiring the municipal court to exercise the same jurisdiction or to adopt the same methods of procedure as those in force in the Common Pleas. The municipal court is of a different class or grade from the Common Pleas and the Constitution only requires uniformity as to jurisdiction, powers and procedure in each class or grade.</p>