Rassau v. Campbell

Citations

• 236 Pa. 455
• 84 A. 957
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 777

Syllabus

<p>Election law — Liquor law — Local option — Special Act of April 8, 1872, P. L. 804 — Act of June 8, 1911 P. L. 708 — Statutes — Repeal.</p> <p>1. Under Section 7, Article III, of the Constitution, the legislature had the right to pass the Act of June 8, 1911, P. L. 703, repealing the special Act of April 3, 1872, P. L. 804, relating to local option in certain townships of Allegheny county.</p> <p>2. Each of the ten townships named in the Act of April 3, 1872, was a unit, and the act was in effect the same as if a separate act in identical terms had been passed for each township. The fact, therefore, that the legislature repealed the Act of 1872, as to five of the ten townships only, does not render the Act of June 8, 1911, unconstitutional. Blankenburg v. Black, 200 Pa. 629, distinguished.</p> <p>3. Where, after the passage of the Act of April 3, 1872, a portion of one of the townships mentioned therein becomes • a borough under a decree of the court of quarter sessions, the electors of the portion of the township which became the borough retained their right to decide whether liquor licenses should be granted or refused within the limits of the borough. If the township in question is one of the townships as to which the Act of April 3, 1872, was repealed by the Act of June 8, 1911, the Act of 1872 is repealed as to the borough also, and the electors in the latter lose the right to determine whether or not liquor licenses shall be granted in the borough.</p>