247 Pa. 65 | Pa. | 1915
Opinion by
It is time for this litigation to come to an end. The case has been pending in the court below for several years and this is the.second time it has been before the Supreme Court on appeal. As disclosed by the record
Before concluding this opinion, it may be-helpful in the trial of such cases in the future to indicate some general rules which should be accepted as settled law. One of these is that municipalities cannot impose a revenue tax under the guise of a police regulation: Kittanning Boro. v. Nat. Gas Co., 239 Pa. 210. Whether an ordinance be reasonable and consistent with the law is generally a question for the court, yet when the question of reasonableness turns upon the amount of a license charge it may rightly be left to the determination of a jury: Atlantic & P. Telegraph Co. v. Philadelphia, 190 U. S. 160; Postal Telegraph Cable Co. v. New Hope, 192 U. S. 55; Kittanning Boro. v. Nat. Gas Co., 239 Pa. 210. Prima facie, an ordinance fixing an annual license charge upon a public service corporation for police supervision is presumed to be reasonable, but this is a presumption only which can always be rebutted by facts showing it to be unreasonable. It devolves upon the complaining company to show that the ordinance is not reasonable: Western Union Telegraph Co. v. New Hope, 187 U. S. 419; Atlantic & P. Telegraph Co. v. Philadel
Judgment affirmed.