School District v. Pitts

Citations

• 184 Pa. 156
• 39 A. 64
• 1898 Pa. LEXIS 873

Syllabus

<p>Statutes—Act of June 25, 1885, and April 11, 1862—Public officers— Judgment against tax collector and surety.</p> <p>Section 11 of the Act of June 25, 1885, P. L. 189, which provides that “the accounts of collectors of taxes shall be settled by the-township or borough auditors of the proper township or borough, and he shall state a separate account for each different tax collected by him,” does not conflict with or repeal section 18 of the Act of April 11, 1862, P. L. 474, relating to the filing of a certificate and entering a judgment against a tax collector and his sureties.</p> <p>Constitutional law—Trial by jury—Act of April 11, 1862.</p> <p>The Act of April 11, 1862, P. L. 474, authorizing the filing of a certificate by the directors or controllers of a school district, stating the amount of the tax due and unpaid by the collector, which, being entered on the docket by the prothonotary, shall have the effect of a judgment against the collector and his sureties, does not contravene art. 1, sec. 4, of the constitution providing: “ Trial by jury shall be as heretofore, and the right thereof remain inviolate,”—trial by jury not having theretofore existed in such case.</p> <p>Generally speaking, the legislature may provide any system of settlement or trial without coming in conflict with the provision of the constitution, if trial by jury did not exist in such case theretofore.</p>