245 Pa. 17 | Pa. | 1914
Opinion by
The auditors of Bradford County filed in the Common Pleas their annual statement or report of the settlement of the accounts of the several county officers for the year 1908, and on May 15, 1909, more than three hundred and twenty-five taxpayers of that county, in behalf of the county, filed an appeal from the report, “particularly from the report upon the accounts of Edson D. Harkness, Langdon H. Marsh and M. J. McNulty, late county commissioners of said county, and ex-officio overseers of the poor, for the poor district composed of the County of Bradford.” On the same day the appellants presented to the Common Pleas a bond with sureties in
From the reasons assigned by the learned court below for striking off the appeal from the report of the county auditors, we think it misapprehended the position of the
The appeal in the present case was properly taken and entered in the Court of Common Pleas by the appellants, and the statutory bond was given and approved by the court. The statute makes no provision for filing exceptions or specifications of error to the report of the audi tors. It is the practice, however, in many counties to file such exceptions and there certainly can be no objection as it informs the alleged delinquent officer of the ground on which the appeal was taken. The court may direct, the act provides, an issue to be tried by a jury, which evidently contemplates, upon the application of either or both of the parties. If no such application be made, we can see no reason why the court should not hear and dispose of the appeal.
In the present case the appeal from the report was taken and entered in time. Within a few weeks thereafter the exceptions were filed by the appellants, setting out the items of the alleged misappropriation by the com
The reason assigned by the court for striking the ap
The learned judge in his opinion quotes a resolution passed by the present board of commissioners of Bradford county which he says should be taken into consideration by the court in determining whether “any further proceedings in this case” should be taken. In the resolution it is resolved “that we are of opinion that if said appeal and said exceptions were really filed in good faith there has not been any due and timely prosecution of the same, and we do not believe that their present agitation is founded upon good faith, and, we therefore object and protest against any issue now being framed for the trial of said exceptions in which the said County of Bradford shall be use plaintiff, as the same would make an unwarranted and unnecessary expense to said County of Bradford in our opinion.” This is a remarkable resolu
Two boards of county commissioners have succeeded the alleged defaulting board and so far as the record discloses neither board has given any assistance in having the conduct of the former board of commissioners investigated. On the contrary, the present board of commissioners, ignoring the fact that over three hundred and twenty-five taxpayers of the county charged the former board in its official capacity with the misappropriation of large sums of money, “object and protest against any issue being framed for the trial of said ex
We think the court below should have granted the mo
The order or decree of the court below is reversed at the costs of Edson D. Harkness, Langdon H. Marsh and M. J. McNulty, and a procedendo is awarded.