Haines v. Levin

• Decision Date: 23 January 1866
• Citation: 51 Pa. 412
• Parties: Haines <I>versus</I> Levin.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 412

51 Pa. 412

Haines versus Levin.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

January 23, 1866.

WRIT of error and certiorari to the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia.

H. M. Phillips and Thompson, for defendants in error.

The opinion of the court was delivered, January 23d 1866, by AGNEW, J.

This case is before us in two forms, to wit: — A writ of error to the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia city and county, in a certiorari issued to remove a landlord and tenant proceeding under the Act of 14th December 1863, before a magistrate; and a writ of certiorari to remove the writ of possession issued by the same court after affirmance of the proceedings of the magistrate.

In the first branch of the case there is but one question, to wit, the constitutionality of the Act of 1863, which substitutes the judgment of one justice to that of two justices and a jury of free-holders, under the old Act of 1772, which by the latter being final as between the landlord and the tenant, and gives in lieu thereof an appeal to the Court of Common Pleas, to be taken within ten days on giving bail absolute by recognisance for all costs accrued and to accrue in case the judgment be affirmed, and also for all rent that has accrued or may accrue up to the time of final judgment. The act further provides that the appeal shall not be a supersedeas to the warrant of possession, and shall be tried in the same manner as actions of ejectment, and if the jury find for the tenant, they shall assess his damages sustained by removal from the premises, for which he shall have judgment with costs and judgment to recover the possession with writs of execution to enforce the judgment.

The Act of 1863 does not in terms provide for the mode of taking the appeal, but for this purpose refers itself to the provisions of the Act of 3d April 1830.

The Act of 1830 has been upon the statute-book for thirty-five years, and has been extensively used in this city (Philadelphia) without any question of its constitutionality, although a number of cases arising under it have been brought into this court for revision. While this fact will not avail if the law be void, yet it is significant of the universal opinion in its favour by the profession, and especially by the bar of a city proverbial for their acuteness and erudition. Besides, excepting a single feature to be noticed, the Act of 1863 and that of 1830 stand upon the same footing as the Act of 1810, giving civil jurisdiction to justices, which has been held to be constitutional. It is therefore unnecessary to discuss the general doctrine of the constitutionality of such laws. This will be found to be sufficiently done in Van Swartow v. Commonwealth, 12 Harris 131, and Warner v. Commonwealth, 1 Wright 45. The Act of 1863 having therefore provided sufficiently to secure to the tenant an appeal and trial by jury, its constitutionality could not be doubted, but for the fact that it declares that the appeal shall be no supersedeas, thus enabling the landlord to take the fruits of the proceeding before a final termination of the cause. This certainly is at war with our common notions of the modes of administering justice; yet it is not the supposed hardship of giving a writ to take the possession and collect the damages, which must decide the question of constitutional power. The great purpose of the constitution in providing that "trial by jury shall be as heretofore, and the rights thereof remain inviolate," was not to contract the power to furnish modes of civil procedure in courts of justice, but to secure the right of trial by jury in its accustomed form before rights of person or property shall be finally decided. Hence the right of trial as it then existed was secured, and the trial itself protected from innovations which might destroy its utility and its security as a palladium of the liberties of the citizen. But beyond this point there is no limitation upon legislative power in constructing modes of redress for civil wrongs, and regulating their provisions.

In endeavouring to adjust the rights of landlords and tenants upon some basis of mutuality, the legislature took into view the hardships to which each class might be subjected. On the one hand, a tenant holding over after the termination of his lease often subjects his landlord to great inconvenience and loss. The latter may, as he has a right to do, lease to another, to commence at the expiration of the former tenant's term, and by the holding over not only lose a better tenant at perhaps a higher rent, but be subjected also to damages for his breach of covenant. The rent according to the terms of the lease, which a holding over is said to imply, may, after a lease of a few years duration, be far below the current rate at its expiration. Hence it is all important to landlords that tenants should not be able by fruitless appeal to postpone the delivery of possession through the delays incident to proceedings at law. On the other hand, poor men who must lease of others, may suffer injustice at the hands of wealthy owners of property, whose influence may possibly draw to themselves the unjust judgment of the magistrate, and they may have to turn out of possession without a provision for shelter to their families.

At first blush there is a good deal of...