167 Pa. 279 | Pa. | 1895
Opinion by
The Philadelphia Company is a corporation engaged in the production, transportation and sale of natural gas. It was engaged in this business prior to and at the time of the passage of the act “ for the incorporation and regulation of natural gas companies ” approved May 29, 1885, P. L. 29. It has not accepted the provisions of this act, but it has located and partially constructed “ a twenty inch wrought iron gas line ” for the purpose of conveying gas from its wells in Armstrong county to its customers in the cities of Pittsburg and Allegheny. The line so located passes through the borough of Freeport and .along Stewart and Washington streets in said borough, the authorities of which have refused to permit it to lay its pipe on said streets. The result of this refusal was that the company filed a bill in the court of common pleas of Armstrong county against the borough praying, inter alia, for a decree enjoining and restraining “the defendant, its officers, agents and employees from interfering in any way with the construction by plaintiff of its twenty inch pipe line on its adopted location through said borough.” The case was proceeded in by agreement as if upon final hearing and a decree was entered in conformity with the prayer of the bill. The principal question for our consideration on appeal from this decree is whether the assent of the borough is necessary to enable the company to construct its pipe line, as located, on Stewart and Washington streets. In considering this question we observe, first, that the Philadelphia Company is not authorized by its charter to lay a pipe line on a street of a municipality and that whatever right it has in this respect it derived from the act already referred to. The tenth section of the act is comprehensive, and plainly includes corporations then engaged in the business of transporting and distributing natural gas. In Carother’s Appeal, 118 Pa. 468, this court said, in substance, that the act of 1885 conferred upon such corporations the right of eminent domain, and that the system provided by the act for the assessment of damages occasioned by the exercise of the right was applicable to them. In that case the appellee in this case was a party and its rights and liabilities in regard to.these matters were discussed and considered. Its claim of a right-to lay a pipe line on a borough street appears to accord with the con
Decree reversed and bill dismissed, the costs to be paid by the appellee.