237 Pa. 473 | Pa. | 1912
Lead Opinion
Opinion by
At a special election held for the purpose, a majority of the electors voted in favor of increasing the indebtedness of the appellee borough for the purpose of constructing a main sewer, installing a disposal plant, and providing for proper drainage. The returns represented the will of a majority of the electors as expressed by their votes at the election. There is no charge of fraud, or of unfair methods in the conduct of the election, nor is it asserted that a majority of the voters did not favor the increase of indebtedness for the purposes stated. It is urged, however, that the election so held was illegal because certain statutory requirements were not observed in holding the same, and that the election itself, and all subsequent proceedings, should be declared void in law by reason of these defects. This bill was filed by a resident tax payer for the purpose of enjoining the borough and its officers from issuing bonds for the purposes stated, and from carrying out the provisions of the
We, therefore, conclude that all matters of substance about which complaint is made in the present bill, as to the manner of holding the election, were validated by the Act of 1911 and that the bill was properly dismissed.
Decree affirmed at the cost of appellant.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissentings Opinion by
The learned chancellor below correctly said that as the council of the Borough of Carlisle had not by a separate ordinance or vote signified its desire to increase the. indebtedness of the municipality, the election of February 21, 1911, was fatally defective, and he would be compelled to so hold but for the validating Act of June 19,1911, P. L. 1044. The election was void; it was a nullity: Hoffman v. Pittsburgh, 229 Pa. 36; Bullitt v. Philadelphia, 230 Pa. 544. An election upon the question of the increase- of municipal indebtedness is a constitutional one, for the mandate of the Constitution is that no municipality shall increase its indebtedness to an amount exceeding two per centum upon assessed valuation of property, without the assent of the electors
I would reverse the decree, reinstate appellant’s bill and direct the injunction to issue as prayed for.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion by
The power of the legislature to give validity to something which, because of its want of conformity to existing legal requirements, is without validity, is subject to