26 Pa. Super. 346 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1904
Opinion by
The fourth section of the ordinance of 1899 is a copy, verbatim et literatim, of the ordinance of 1895. The later ordinance contains no repealing clause; if it is to be construed as operating to destroy rights and relieve from liabilities that had accrued under the earlier ordinance, it is not because the council so intended, but because some inflexible rule of law requires us to give it that effect irrespective of their intention. But there is no such general rule. On the contrary, the general rule is, that the re-enactment of a previous statute is con-, strued not to be an implied repeal of the enactment, but a continuation thereof, so that all interests under the original statute remain unimpaired: 26 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law (2d ed.), 758; Endlich on Interpretation of Statutes, sec. 490. The principle is applicable to the construction of an ordinance; therefore, the court was right in holding that the adoption of the ordinande of 1899 did not take away nor impair the right of the plaintiff to recover the license fees which had accrued under the ordinance of 1895.
It is objected that the ordinance is void because it is not restricted in express terms to poles and wires maintained upon highways and public property. As well might it be claimed that it is void because it does not say, in so many words, that it shall apply only to poles and wires maintained within the borough. Both of these limitations are to be implied in the construction of the ordinance, because the lawful, authority of the borough to impose such charges does not extend beyond
That the borough had power to enact the ordinance, provided the fee was reasonable in amount, and that the defendant cannot claim exemption from liability under it by reason of the facts that it is engaged in interstate commerce, and has accepted the act of congress relative to the construction of telegraph lines over the post roads of the United States, and has paid all taxes imposed upon it by the general laws of the commonwealth, are propositions too well settled in Pennsylvania to require further discussion than we have given them in the cases decided in July last. We may- appropriately remark, however, that they were expressly conceded by the Supreme Court of the Dnited States in the recent case upon which the defendant relies for a reversal of the judgment. We come then to the question of the reasonableness of the amount of the charge. “Prima facie it was reasonable: Western Union Telegraph Co. v. New Hope, 187 U. S. 419 (28 Sup. Ct. Repr.
The witness testified further as follows : “ It is difficult to give accurate figures for repairs and reconstruction, but a care
Judgment affirmed.