Sax v. School District

Citations

• 237 Pa. 68
• 85 A. 91
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 893

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law — Municipal worlc — Subcontractors—Act of May 6, 1909, P. L. khl — Special legislation — Mechanics’ lien.</p> <p>1. Tbe Act of May 6, 1909, P. L. 441, entitled, “An Act providing a method whereby moneys due subcontractors for labor and materials furnished for and in the construction of municipal work or public improvements may be secured and recovered,” violates Section 7, of Article III, of the Constitution, which provides, among other things, that the general assembly shall not pass any local or special law “authorizing the creation, extension, or impairment of liens,” “regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships”......“or providing or changing methods for the collection of debts.”</p> <p>2. The act provides a new method by which a special class of creditors may collect a special class of debts, in which respect it is clearly divergent from, and an advance upon the law as it stood prior to the Constitution of 1874, and is invalid.</p> <p>3. A school district is not justified in withholding payment of , a balance due a contractor for labor and materials furnished in the erection of a school building because of a notice of lien by a subcontractor under the Act of May 6, 1909, P. L. 441.</p>