Whitmore v. Craig

Citations

• 32 Pa. Super. 292
• 1907 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2

Syllabus

<p>Justice of the peace — Fees—Charging illegal fees — Penalty—Act of March 25, 1903, P. L. 61.</p> <p>Where a justice of the peace is charged with taking an illegal fee, and there is no dispute as to the taking of the fee, or as to the amount, the question whether it was legally taken is one of law for the court, and the question of the reasonableness of the fee cannot be submitted to the jury.</p> <p>The penalty imposed by the Act of May 26, 1897, P. L. 100, on a justice of the peace for charging an illegal fee, may be incurred by exacting fees which are supposed at the time to be legally demandable; the taking is the gist of the offense and ignorance of the law will not excuse.</p> <p>In an action against a justice of the peace for taking illegal fees, if it appears that he charged and received a greater sum for a specified item of service than he was entitled to, it will not be compensated by his omission to charge as much as he was entitled to for another item of service; but if the justice makes a mistake in noting in an abbreviated form the service upon his docket, he may show that the charge which was actually made both as' to the service and the amount of the fee, was correct.</p> <p>A justice of the peace has no right to charge and demand, as part of the costs of the case fifty cents for drawing the affidavit required by the Act of March 25, 1903, P. L. 61, and administering the oath thereto. The proper charge for such service is twenty-five cents.</p> <p>Where an action has been brought against a justice of the peace to recover the penalty imposed by the Act of May 26, 1897, P. L. 100, for taking illegal fees, nothing less than the tender of the amount of the penalty provided by the act is sufficient amends, and available as a defense.</p>