239 Pa. 468 | Pa. | 1913
Opinion by
The mandamus issued in this case directed the director of the department of public works and the chief of the board of surveyors to strike from the city plan certain described property of the plaintiff which it was alleged had been plotted for a proposed public park without authority of law. The first question for decision is whether mandamus is a proper remedy in such a case. The writ of mandamus only issues where there is no other specific and legal remedy, or when it is expressly authorized to be issued by statute. It does not lie to compel a public officer to do any official act which the law does not impose upon him; or to discharge the duties of his office in a manner not authorized by law, or to do any official act which the law does not expressly or by implication require such officer to perform: Davis v. Patterson, 12 Pa. Superior Ct. 479. In
We agree in part at least with the contention of counsel for appellee, that the city had no authority under the ordinance of 1907 to plot upon the city plan the properties in question so as to have any binding effect upon the owners thereof. Certainly no such authority is conferred by the Acts of May 13, 1857, P. L. 489, or June 24, 1891, P. L. 394. It may be that under the Act of February 2, 1854, P. L. 21, the board of surveyors under the general powers therein delegated, and especially that relating to the “planning of the city,” may have the authority to prepare for the use and convenience of the city alone, general plans having in contemplation park and other public improvements. But such plans would have no binding effect on anyone, not even upon the city itself, which could change the plans at its pleasure before the necessary legal steps had been taken to appropriate and condemn the land for park purposes. Such proceedings are purely statutory and the city has no authority to appropriate or condemn lands unless authorized to do so by law. The Act of June 26, 1895, P. L. 349, confers upon cities of the Commonwealth the right “to purchase, acquire, enter upon, take, use and appropriate private property for the purpose of making, enlarging, extending and maintaining public parks within the corporate limits of such cities, whenever the councils shall, by ordinance or joint resolution, determine thereon.” The Act of 1891 also empowers cities to pur
Decree reversed and petition dismissed at the cost of appellee.