Scranton v. Peoples Coal Co.

Citations

• 256 Pa. 332
• 100 A. 818
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 610

Syllabus

<p>Equity — Mines and mining — Streets—Underlying coal — Removal ■ — Lateral and vertical support — Bill in equity — Injunction—Refusal.</p> <p>1. The soil and any mineral deposits within the limits of a highway belong to the owner of the adjacent land and he is entitled to remove them so long as he does not interfere with the public use of the highway.</p> <p>2. An abutting owner cannot remove minerals from under or adjacent to an established highway in such manner as to cause a subsidence or other injury thereto; to do so is a nuisance, which in a clear case will be restrained in equity at the suit of the municipality. A street is entitled to such support, both lateral and vertical, as will keep it in place.</p> <p>3. In a suit in equity brought by a municipality to enjoin the owner of coal from removing coal underlying a city street and adjacent thereto plaintiff alleged that the removal of the coal would cause injury to the street by the deprivation of vertical and lateral support. The court found that fifty per cent, of the coal underlying the street could be removed without causing a subsidence therein, and that the removal of the coal on the adjacent property would not cause injury to the street, and refused the injunction as prayed for, but retained tbe bill to secure compliance with the restrictions under which it found the mining ought to be done. Held, that plaintiff’s rights were sufficiently protected and the decree was affirmed.</p>