Towanda Borough v. Fell

Citations

• 69 Pa. Super. 468
• 1918 Pa. Super. LEXIS 111

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional law — Retrospective legislation — Municipal claim —Failure to file claim within six months — Act of May 28, 1915, P. L. 610.</p> <p>The Act of May 28, 1915, P. L. 610, which gives to boroughs a remedy to collect municipal claims, although the same have not be°n filed within six months as provided by the Act of June 4, 1901, P. L. 366, is constitutional, although it is retrospective in character.</p> <p>The legislature has the power to legislate retrospectively on all matters, not penal nor in violation of contracts, not expressly forbidden by the Constitution. The true rule is that where the omission to be cured is some act which the legislature might have dispensed with by a prior statute, the courts will construe the curative act so as to give it the retrospective operation intended.</p> <p>The Act of May 28, 1915, P. L. 610, is not to be held unconstitutional because of the language of Section 10 of the Act of June 4, 1901, P. L. 367, namely: “If a claim be not filed within the time aforesaid (six months) or if it be not prosecuted in the manner, and at the time aforesaid it shall be wholly lost.” This section applies merely to procedure.</p> <p>The fact that a municipal claim for curbing recites that there was an assessment made against the property in August, 1913, and a second assessment made after the curative Act of May 28, 1915, P. L. 610, is not fatal to the claim.</p>