Porter v. Shields

Citations

• 200 Pa. 241
• 49 A. 785
• 1901 Pa. LEXIS 473

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law—Delegation of municipal functions to special commission—County officers—Side path commissioners—Act of April 11, 1899, P. L. 36.</p> <p>The Act of April 11, 1899, P. L. 36, entitled “ An act providing for the construction and maintenance of side paths along the highways in the townships of the commonwealth for the use of bicycles and pedestrians; providing for the appointment of side path commissioners, prescribing their duties, and the duties of the assessors in the assessment of bicycles; providing for levying, collecting and disbursement of a tax on bicycles,” is unconstitutional, as it trangresses the prohibition in article 3, section 20, of the constitution against the delegation to a special commission of the “power to make or interfere with any municipal improvement .... or to perform any municipal function whatever.”</p> <p>■ Jf the intent of the Act of April 11, 1899, P. L. 36, was not to create special commissions, but to provide for officers with powers not now possessed by townships, then the act is open to the constitutional objection that the side path commissioners ar.e county officers, and as such cannot be appointed by the court of quarter sessions as provided by the act, but must be elected at the general election.</p>