Taylor v. Philadelphia

Citations

• 261 Pa. 458
• 104 A. 766
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 767

Syllabus

<p>Municipalities — Contracts—Provision that material shall be prepared in municipality — Act of July 6, 1911, P. L. 162 — Validity— Constitution of Pennsylvania, Article III, Section 1 — Local and special legislation — Validating prior contracts — Ordinances — Validity — Acts of May 28, 1811, P• L. 280, and June 1,1886, P. L. 81 —Lowest responsible bidder — Equity—Injunction.</p> <p>1. Classification with respect to governmental functions has been uniformly held proper on the ground that legislation adapted to one municipality may be totally unsuited to another by reason of differences in population, etc.; with respect, however, to private undertakings not a part of governmental functions of the municipality, and in which the State has no concern, the same reason for classification does not exist, and the propriety thereof must stand the test applied to legislation for the government of private corporations.</p> <p>2. The Act of July 6,1917, P. L. 752, authorizing municipalities to provide by ordinance, municipal regulation or contract, that any portion or all of the work on public buildings shall be done within the territorial limits of the. municipal division or subdivision for which said work is being performed, and validating all prior ordinances containing such provisions, is a special law and violative of Article III, Section 7, of the Constitution, forbidding local or special legislation regulating labor, trade, mining or manufacturing.</p> <p>3. Ordinances are not laws within the meaning of the constitutional provisions prohibiting local or special legislation.</p> <p>4. The ordinances of the City of Philadelphia of November 26, 1894, and December 28, 1895, requiring that any contract for the construction of public buildings shall specify therein that it shall be obligatory on the departments to have the work of cutting and preparing stone for such use done in the City of Philadelphia, and that proposals for the work into which said stone enters shall be wo