262 Pa. 188 | Pa. | 1918
Opinion by
This is a proceeding under Section 217 of the Act of May 18,1911, P. L. 309, for the removal of school directors for neglect of official duty. On May 15, 1917, respondents, as school directors of Conyngham Township, Columbia County, contracted with J. M. Walker for the purchase of two stoves at $218 each, for heating the two rooms of the Wilburton school building, without public notice or competitive bids as required by Section 617 of said act (P. L. 350); for which their removal from office was duly petitioned for in the court below. Answers were filed and testimony taken. A violation of said Section 617 is cause for the removal of school directors: Summit Hill School Directors, 258 Pa. 575. The present case turned on whether the purchase of the stoves constituted one or two transactions. The evidence was conflicting; that for respondents (appellants) was to the effect that the one stove was ordered and contract therefor ex
The Court of Common Pleas of Columbia County consists of a president judge and two associate judges, the latter not being learned in the law. The three judges sat at the hearing of this case. The president judge filed an opinion, embracing certain findings, and stating, inter alia, “Taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances as disclosed by the pleadings and the testimony we find as a fact that there was neither a wilful nor an intentional failure on the part of the board to violate any of the provisions of Sec. 217 of the Code. It therefore follows that the rule should be discharged;” and entered' a decree as follows: “And now, August 6, 1917, in accordance with the views herein expressed, the rule is discharged. The costs to be paid by the school district.
“Charles C. Evans, P. J.”
Later on the same-day the associate judges entered the following decree: “And now August 6,1917, after a full and complete hearing in open court and after due consideration thereof, the associate judges dissent from the
“Chas. E. Hauck:, A. J.
“Associate Judges of Columbia Co.”
From the latter decree the school directors brought this appeal.
We are all of the opinion that the decree made by the associate judges is the judgment of the court. Having been elected and commissioned as judges, they are members of the court entitled to sit as such and participate in the hearing and determination of matters brought before them. They constitute a majority of the court and may decide a case heard before the three judges against the opinion and dissent of the president judge, wherever it depends on questions of fact. See Reiber v. Boos et al., 110 Pa. 594, 598. That they may so grant or refuse liquor licenses is well settled: Branch’s License, Beck’s App., 164 Pa. 427; Sperring’s License, 7 Pa. Superior Ct. 131.
In law there are no fractions of a day, and the fact that the associate judges in the present case filed their decree at a later hour than did the president judge is of no moment. A court may change its decision on the day it is rendered; so, treating the decree of the president judge as
The decisions, both of the president judge and of the associates, are based on the question of the integrity and good faith or otherwise of the school directors, and the suggestion that the case depends on the construction of the statute is not ^ell taken. There is evidence to- sustain the decree appealed from and it is not for us to- pass upon the merits of the controversy.
The assignment of erro-r is overruled and the appeal dismissed at the costs of appellants.