Snow v. Deerfield Township

• Decision Date: 01 April 1875
• Citation: 78 Pa. 181
• Parties: Snow <I>et al. versus</I> Deerfield Township.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

78 Pa. 181

Snow et al. versus Deerfield Township.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

March 25, 1875.

April 1, 1875.

March 25th 1875.

Before AGNEW, C. J., SHARSWOOD, MERCUR, GORDON, PAXSON and WOODWARD, JJ.

Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Warren county: Of January Term 1874, No. 344 R. Brown, for plaintiffs in error.—Notwithstanding the railroad company were bound to construct a road to supply the place of that occupied by the railroad, yet it was the duty of the road commissioners to see that it was done: Penna. Railroad v. Dusquesne Borough, 10 Wright 223. The township would be liable for any injury arising from obstructions to the road: Phœnixville v. Phœnix Iron Co., 9 Id. 135. The subsequent legal laying out of the road ratified the prior acts of the commissioners: Angell & Ames on Corp., sect. 304; 2 Dillon's Mun. Corp., sect. 385, note 1; Allegheny v. McClurkan, 2 Harris 81; 1 Parsons on Contracts 139; 1 Hilliard on Contracts 551: McLain v. Snyder School District, 2 Jones 204; Hart v. Borough of Girard, 6 P. F. Smith 26; Kelsey v. National Bank, 19 Id. 426; Wright v. Burbank, 14 Id. 247; Klopp v. Witmoyer, 7 Wright 226.

S. P. Johnson, for defendant in error.—The commissioners could not alter the location of the road except by a new view: Furniss v. Furniss, 5 Casey 15; Clark v. Commonwealth, 9 Id. 112; Morrow v. Commonwealth, 12 Wright 305; even to correct a mistake in opening the road in the wrong place: McMurtrie v. Stewart, 9 Harris 323; Holden v. Cole, 1 Barr 303. A road cannot be opened till after the final confirmation: Middle Creek Road, 9 Barr 69. A township is not liable for work done without authority, however beneficial the work: Anderson v. Hamilton, 1 Casey 75. The township could not ratify an unauthorized and illegal expenditure of public road funds: Rapho v. Moore, 18 P. F. Smith 404; Grafins v. Commonwealth, 3 Penna. R. 502.

Judgment was entered in the Supreme Court, April 1st 1875,

PER CURIAM.

The agreement of the 23d of August 1867, between the township of Deerfield and The Warren & Franklin Railroad Company, was not a mere substitution of W. W. Connelly and John Robinson as agents for the company to exercise its powers in making the road in question to supply the place of that occupied by the company. It was much more; it was an agreement by the township wholly to release the railroad company from all responsibility and liability for the construction and repair of this and all other roads made necessary by the obstructions, or occupancy, or injury caused by the building of the railroad, and to perform this duty on part of the township. Now, clearly this was a contract beyond the scope of the powers of the commissioners who made the agreement on behalf of the township. They could not...