26 A.2d 907 | Pa. | 1942
This is an appeal from the order of the court below, sustaining the questions of law raised by an affidavit of defense filed in a suit by the Commonwealth to recover $390 which was the cost to the Department of Highways of removing a frame building from the right-of-way of relocated route #62096 in Blair Township, Washington County. This action was brought under section 16 of *223
the Highway Law of May 31, 1911, P. L. 468 (
Under the Act of April 13, 1933, P. L. 41, amending section 16, it was provided that "the county or commonwealth shall also provide for the removal of all structures within the lines of the highway, as thus established, as may be provided by agreement between said county and the Secretary of Highways." The title of the Act of 1933, after reciting the original title, continued: "by providing for payment by the Commonwealth . . . where the county does not agree to such changes or removals."
The Act of July 12, 1935, P. L. 946, again amended several sections of the Highway Law of 1911 and after reciting the title of the original act, itemized the subjects of the amendments, and as to section 16 said: "providing for agreements by the Secretary of Highways and counties for the sharing of property damages and the removal of structures." In the body of the act this appears: "The county shall also provide for the removal of all structures within the lines of the highway, as thus established, unless otherwise provided by agreement between said county and the Secretary of Highways."
The court below pointed out: "The title indicates that it [the act] provides for agreements . . . but the body of the act eliminates the Commonwealth as responsible for the removal of structures and requires the county to pay them [for this removal], unless the Secretary of Highways agrees [otherwise]. . . . The Act of 1927 definitely imposed the cost on the county, unless the Secretary of Highways chose to agree. The Act of 1933 removed that imposition upon the county and left the matter, without imposition upon the county, open to *224 agreement between the county and the Secretary of Highways. The Act of 1935 definitely reversed the policy and again imposed the liability on the county, unless the Secretary of Highways chose to agree." The court below held that the title challenged gave no such notice of the change in the statute imposing liability on the county for the removal of structures, unless the Secretary of Highways agrees, as to satisfy the constitutional requirement that the "subject" of the bill passed "shall be clearly expressed in its title." As the court below expressed it, the Act of 1935 "made a definite change of policy from the earlier acts on the same subject." The act definitely imposed a liability on the county. There is also no doubt that the title of the act gives no notice of this fact. On the contrary, it definitely conveys the idea that "property damages" and "the removal of structures"* will be shared. To this extent the title is misleading.
This court has repeatedly held that when an act imposes new burdens on political sub-divisions, its title must clearly give notice of that fact. In County Commissioners' Petition for theConstruction of a Public Highway Tunnel,
We also agree with the court below in the following statement: "The Act of June 21, 1937, P. L. 1951, contains nothing in its title with reference to the cost of removal, and does not change the Act of 1935 as to the text of that regard. If the Act of 1935 is unconstitutional in this respect, an amendment could not be hung on to it in 1937 to cure the unconstitutionality, which in no way referred to the change effected in 1935."
The order is affirmed.