243 Pa. 260 | Pa. | 1914
Opinion by
Carpenter, the plaintiff, sued the Fort Pitt Mining and Milling Company, a foreign corporation, to recover fl,500, the value of three thousand shares of stock and for back salary for running the company’s mine. He took a rule of reference under the compulsory arbitration Act of June 16,1836, P. L. 715, and the arbitrators made an award in his favor. The company appealed from the award and gave bond conditioned for the pay
The defendants contend that the bond was illegal in that it was taken for the debt, interest and costs whereas it should have been taken for the costs only. The single question in the case is whether the twelfth section of the Act of April 25, 1850, P. L. 569, construing the Act of March 20, 1845, P. L. 188, which provides that in appeals from award of arbitrators the appellant shall give bail for the costs only, repeals the Act of March 21,1849, P. L. 216, providing that in appeals by a foreign corporation in actions brought in a court of record, the bail shall be for the debt, interest and costs. In other words, under present legislation is a foreign corporation defendant in appealing from an award of arbitrators required to' give bail for payment of the debt finally adjudged to be due the plaintiff, together with interest and costs, or only for the costs accrued and likely to accrue in the case?
A review of the legislation on the subject will show that the Act of 1849 is in force, and that bail on an appeal by a foreign corporation from an award of arbitrators must be for the debt, interest and costs.
The Act of March 29, 1809, P. L. 125, was the first compulsory arbitration statute enacted in this State, and the recognizance on appeal from the award was substantially the same as that required under the Act of March 20, 1810, 5 Sm. L. 131, the fourteenth section of which provides that if the defendant be the appellant he
The next act on the subject was approved March 22, 1817, P. L. 128. It was doubtless passed in view of the decision of this court in Carpentier v. Delaware Insurance Company, 2 Binn. 264, in which it was held that the condition of the recognizance in the Act of 1809 and similar Act of 1810 that the surety surrender the defendant to the county jail was incapable of performance in case of a corporation, and therefore a corporation was entitled to appeal without entering into a recognizance of bail. This inequality between a defendant corporation and an individual defendant was remedied by the Act of 1817, the fourth section of which provides, inter alia, that “when any corporation shall be sued and shall appeal or take a writ of error, the bail requisite in that case shall be taken absolute for the payment of the debt, interest and costs on affirmance of the judgment.” We held that this act applied to appeals from the judgment of a justice of the peace and from an award of arbitrators.
The General Arbitration Act of June 16, 1836, P. L. 715, followed, the thirtieth section of which substantially reenacted the fourteenth section of the Act. of 1810 requiring the defendant, if appellant, to give special bail upon appeal from an award of arbitrators. The question arose at once whether this provision of the Act of 1836 was not an implied repeal of the fourth section of the Act of 1817 requiring corporations to give bail absolute for debt, interest and costs in such cases. We answered the question in the negative in Morris v. Delaware and Schuylkill Canal, 4 W. & S. 461, and affirmed our former construction of the Act of 1817 that corpora
In this state of the law, the Act of March 20, 1845, P. L. 188, entitled “An act concerning bail and attachments,” was passed, evidently to meet the situation produced by the Act of 1842. Section 1 of the act provides: “In lieu of the bail heretofore required by law, in the cases herein mentioned, the bail in cases of appeal from the judgments of aldermen and justices of the peace, and from the awards of arbitrators, shall be bail absolute, in double the probable amount of costs accrued and likely to accrue in such cases, with one or more sufficient sure
The doubt as to the effect of the Act of 1845 led to the passage of the Act of March 15, 1847, P. L. 361, the first section of which provides as follows: “Whereas, doubts have arisen in regard to the effect of the first section of the act, entitled ‘An Act concerning bail and attachments,’ passed twentieth March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, and as to the bail required to be given by corporations in cases of appeal and writs of error, since the passage of said act; therefore, Section 1. Be it enacted......that from and after the passage of this act, when any corporation (municipal corporations excepted), being sued, shall appeal or take a writ of error, the bail requisite in that case shall be taken absolute, for the payment of debt, interest and costs on the affirmance of the judgment.” It will be observed that, with the exception of municipal corporations, this is a reenactment in terms of the fourth section of the Act of 1817 requiring corporations to give bail for debt, interest and costs in such cases. Under our decisions interpreting this latter act, the Act of 1847 applied to appeals from the judgments of justices of the peace and aider-men and awards of arbitrators.
With this legislation before it, the legislature passed the Act of April 25, 1850, P. L. 569, entitled “An Act relating to......appeals from awards of arbitrators by corporations.......” The twelfth section of this act provides: “So much of the first section of the act passed
The Act of May 19, 1897, P. L. 67, repealed only so much of the Act of 1849 “as relates to appeals, and writs of error” taken to the appellate courts. The Act of 1897 applies to appeals to the Supreme and Superior Courts, as distinctly appears from the title which is “An Act
We are of opinion that the Act of 1850 did not repeal the Act of 1849, and that the bond in suit is a valid obligation of the defendants.
Judgment affirmed.