Wright v. Luzerne County

Citations

• 67 Pa. Super. 618
• 1917 Pa. Super. LEXIS 468

Syllabus

<p>Road law — Vacation of road — Damages—Township roads — Liability of county — Constitutional law — Title of act — Acts of May 28,1918, P. L. 868, and June 27,1918, P. L. 688.</p> <p>Prior to the passage of the Act of May 28, 1913, P. L. 368, the owner of land abutting on a public highway had no franchise or vested right of any kind in the perpetual maintenance of the highway on a fixed location. He could not, therefore, recover damages if such highway were vacated.</p> <p>There is nothing in the Act of May 28,1913, P. L. 368, which allows damages to be imposed on a county where a township road is vacated at the instance of the township itself or some of the inhabitants therein; nor can such damages be. imposed upon the county by the provisions of the Act of June 27, 1913, P. L. 633, entitled “An Act to permit viewers to award damages for the vacation of streets, roads or highways to abutting owners where no land is actually taken.”</p> <p>If provisions in the body of the Act of June 27,1913, P. L. 633, could be fairly construed as to impose liability on the county for the vacation of a township road, then the act is clearly unconstitutional by reason of its defective, inadequate and misleading title.</p>