42 Pa. 303 | Pa. | 1862
The opinion of the court was delivered, April 21st 1862, by
The objections urged against the charge of .the' court in this case are hypercritical in a supereminent degree. They indicate clearly that whatever other object the plaintiff in error may have in view, he is not now seeking compensation for an injury received. Technical and formal, not affecting in the least the merits of his controversy with the defendants, if sustained they could not further the ends of-justice, or benefit the plaintiff himself.
It is first contended that the bond of the defendants and their sureties was not the adequate or sufficient security which the law required them to give before entering upon the land of the plaintiff, locating and constructing their railroad. It is said it was not conditioned as the Act of Assembly required, because it. pro
It is next insisted that there was no evidence of any attempt by the defendants to settle with the plaintiff, and agree upon the damages before they entered upon his land and before they filed the bond given as a security. Hence it is inferred that the tender of the bond, and the filing of the same, was unauthorized by law, and that the defendants were not empowered to appropriate the_ land for the said road.
Though the Acts of Assembly do not in terms; require any attempt to make a settlement before a tender of a bond or filing it in the Common Pleas, it is perhaps a just inference from their language that there should be some evidence of inability of the parties to agree before the court should undertake to pass upon the security offered. But the very offer of a bond is an assertion by one of tbe parties that they cannot agree, and it is in itself some proof of such inability, for without the consent of both such an agreement cannot'be made. And if it were not so, the action of the court approving the sureties, and directing the bond to be filed, involves an adjudication that everything had been done which entitled the company to have the bond filed. If an attempt to settle was a prerequisite, the order of the court is conclusive that the attempt had been made. The decree of the court, like any other judgment, is final between the parties, as to all matters adjudicated therein directly, and to all facts which were essential to the adjudication.
We need say no more; the case was well tried, and the judgment is
Affirmed.