Roumfort Co. v. Delaney

Citations

• 230 Pa. 374
• 79 A. 653
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 620

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law — Buildings—Regulations—Municipalities—Police power — Enforcement—Presumptions—Local and special legislation — ■ Classification — Municipal “affairs”' — Taking for public use — “Powers and privileges” — Act of May 8,1909, P. L. 1/.17.</p> <p>1. Although, the Act of May 3, 1909, P. L. 417, requiring exits, fire escapes and other safeguards in buildings where people assemble, might be enforced in such an arbitrary manner as to work hardship and do great injustice in some instances, it will be presumed that officers intrusted with its enforcement will only require such reasonable compliance as the exigencies of each particular case demand, and when so enforced there can be no valid objection on the ground of its requirements being unreasonable.</p> <p>2. Where classification is relied on to sustain an act it must appear either that the act itself makes a class upon which its provisions operate or that they operate upon an already existing class or classes.</p> <p>3. Incorporated municipalities may adopt police regulations in reference to buildings of the same character but in so doing they act under power delegated by the state, and the commonwealth is not estopped from exercising its sovereign power directly if it chooses to do so.</p> <p>4. An act relating to the safeguarding of buildings, which is a state regulation, whose provisions are enforced by state officers, which does not impose upon any city, county, borough, or school district officer any duty to be performed or any responsibility, to be incurred, and which does not regulate the fees of any such officer or have anything to do with the revenues of counties, cities or townships, does not regulate the “affairs” of such municipal divisions within the meaning of the constitution.</p> <p>5. The act of May 3, 1909, requiring exits, fire escapes, fire extinguishers and fire preventatives for buildings of a certain character such as theaters, public halls and other places where persons assembl