50 Pa. Super. 494 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1912
Opinion by
The single question for consideration on this appeal is whether the board for the assessment and revisión of taxes of the county of Luzerne has a right to appeal from the decision of the salary board made in the exercise of the duties imposed on the latter by the Act of March 24, 1905, P. L. 47. The Act of March 31, 1876, P. L. 13, was passed to carry into effect sec. 5 of art. XIV of the constitution relative to the salaries of county officers and the payment of fees received by them into the state or county treasury in counties containing over 150,000 inhabitants. The seventh section of the act constitutes the county commissioners and controller, where such offices exist in the counties coming under the provisions of the act, a board whose duty it shall be to meet together as they may be required by any of the officers whose salaries are established by the act for the purpose of ascertaining and determining the number of deputies or clerks required for
It is clear that if the act of 1907 is in force an appeal is therein given. The appellee contends that the act of 1911 is unconstitutional in that it is special and local legislation regulating the affairs of counties and the title is defective. It is, as we have seen, an act amending the act of 1907, so as to make it apply to counties containing a population of not less than 800,000 nor more than 1,400,000. With reference to the necessary population it is enacted in sec. 1 that it shall be computed by the United States census for the year 1910, and as the designated population only applied to one county in the state and established a class into which no other county could be admitted we cannot avoid the conclusion that it offends against sec. 7 of art. Ill of the constitution. The rule on the subject of classification as stated in Lloyd v. Smith et al., 176 Pa. 213, is that a law which does not exclude anyone from a class and applies to all members of the class equally is general. In the same case if was held that a law which permanently excludes anyone from a class must be special. It is not a sufficient objection that the law only applied to one county at the time of its enactment if others may come into the class under existing laws by increase of population, but the door must be open for such accessions; in this case the qualification of the county is definitely fixed by the terms of the statute. That county only comes under its provisions which by the census of 1910 had between 800,000 and 1,400,000 inhabitants. No provision is made for the admission of other counties although subsequent enumerations might show as large a population. This cannot be regarded as classification. It is legislation for a particular county: Blankenburg v. Black, 200 Pa. 629. We feel constrained to hold therefore that the act is special and local legislation regulating the affairs of counties and therefore in
The order is affirmed.