9 Pa. Super. 455 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1899
Opinion by
In the audit of his accounts for the year ending March 9, 1897, S. L. Sweigart, one of the township supervisors, was charged with the sum of $2,698.51 and credited with the sum of $2,217.64, leaving a balance of $480.87. The report was duly advertised and filed, and no appeal was taken. Sweigart having refused to pay to his successor this balance, suit was brought against him and his sureties on his official bond. The condition of the bond was, that he “ shall faithfully apply, according to law, all moneys that come into his hands as an officer.” Among the charges against him in the auditors’ report
1. The Act of June 9, 1891, P. L. 248, provides that the money received by the county treasurer for liquor licenses shall be paid to the treasurer of the respective cities, boroughs and townships for their respective use, and that the money thus paid into any township treasury shall be applied to keeping the roads in repair. It was admitted at bar that there was no treasurer in this township but we need not invoke this admission. It is sufficient to say that there might have been none, and if in that case the money was paid directly to the supervisors they were clearly chargeable with it in the settlement of their accounts. It was their official duty to apply it in the manner directed by law, or, if not so applied, to turn it over to the proper officer at the expiration of their term. There being circumstances under which supervisors might be chargeable, as officers, with money coming from this source, the auditors’ report unappealed from is a conclusive adjudication by a tribunal of competent and exclusive jurisdiction that the facts existed which made them legally chargeable in the present case: Porter v. School Directors, 18 Pa. 144; Brown v. White Deer Township, 27 Pa. 109; Dyer v. Covington, 28 Pa. 186 ; Black more v. Allegheny Co., 51 Pa. 160; Glatfelter v. Com., 74 Pa. 74; Siggins v. Com., 85 Pa. 278; Shartzer v. School District, 90 Pa. 192; Short v. Gilson, 107 Pa. 315; Northampton Co. v. Herman, 119 Pa. 873; Schuylkill v. Boyer, 125 Pa. 226 ; Westmoreland Co. v. Fisher, 172 Pa. 317; Com. v. Joyce, 3 Pa. Superior Ct. 616. The contention that it appears upon the face of the report that the auditors exceeded their jurisdiction in charging the supervisor with the money cannot be sustained.
2. It is to be noticed that the condition of the bond is, not that the supervisor shall pay over any balance found to be due from him upon settlement and adjustment of his accounts by the auditors, but that he shall faithfully apply, according to law, all moneys “that come into his hands as an officer.” The obligation thus assumed is for money that comes into the officer’s hands during the term for which the bond was given. At the foundation of the liability is the obligation, and cases can be conceived where the obligation would not include the entire balance found against the principal upon the audit of his
Judgment affirmed.