725 An assignment by a beneficiary of his interest in decedent's estate served upon accountant on January 16, 1913, was held to have priority over an execution attachment based upon a judgment on a bond and mortgage served on August 16, 1913 Intricate and complicated questions of law involving the construction of a lease and an agreement of sale of real estate are not intended by the landlord and tenant statutes to be submitted to the decision of a justice of the peace, and equity restrained ejectment proceedings before a justice of the peace on a bill filed by a tenant where the validity of a sale of real estate was involved Letters of adminstration have no extra territorial force, convey no authority whatever outside of the state of his appointment, and in the absence of statute, any recognition which he may receive outside the jurisdiction of his appointment, is due solely to the principle of comity which any state may extend or withhold at its pleasure.. 785 Courts of equity in Pennsylvania have no jurisdiction over the in ternal management of a foreign corporation. As to what constitutes internal management the following rule has been adopted: "Where the act complained of affects the complainant solely in his capacity as a member of the corporation, whether it be a stockholder, director, president or other officer, and is the act of the corporation, whether acting in stockholders' meeting or through its agents, the board of directors, then such action is the management of the internal affairs of the corporation; and in case of a foreign corporation the courts of Pennsylvania will not take jurisdiction; and it is immaterial that the visible, tangible property of the foreign corporation is situate within the State" A Court of Common Pleas of Pennsylvania is without jurisdiction or authority to restrain or interfere with the acts of trustees in bankruptcy in the payment out of moneys of a bankrupt estate, such trustees being subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the Federal District Court in Bankruptcy a de 769 810 820 825 An action brought in state court will not be removed to a United States district court, on the ground of diversity of citizenship, upon the petition of a defendant which avers that he was a "resident," but which fails to aver that he was a "citizen" of the state, other than that of which the plaintiff was a citizen, when the suit was brougth... 840 The courts have no jurisdiction to decree distribution of a fund not within their grasp without the assent of the parties in interest. Hence, where a party filed exceptions to the sheriff's schedule of distribution, they were dismissed with leave to rule the money into court Jurisdiction by a justice of the peace must be shown affirmatively by the 856 Page. record. Nothing is to be presumed in favor of jurisdiction JURY. See also New Trial; Verdict. The plaintiff was injured, while coasting, by her sled colliding with the automobile of the defendant, and recovered a verdict where the evidence showed that there was sufficient room in the cartway for both to have passed safely and after the accident the wheels of the automobile were found to be on the curb and blocking the way for plaintiff's sled. Conflicting testimony as to how this automobile came into that position was a question for the jury... The district attorney in his address to the jury did not exceed the proprieties when he referred to existing prosecutions and the time in which yet other prosecutions might be brought, in a manner which was harmful to the defendant, when it had been testifled to that an information had been made for forgery. It was a question for the jury where damages were sought to be recovered from a railroad where plaintiff was injured by the train running off the track, the accident being caused by a stone rolling from a hillside onto the track... was A judgment confessed on a lease for a photo player was opened where in his petition defendant alleged that the plaintiff agreed to furnish with the instrument 100 rolls, free of charge, at the time of installation, but he failed to do so and the defendant was compelled to pay $150.00; that there was to be a credit of $500.00 for a used piano; that while the used piano was not furnished by the defendant, yet it was understood that that was merely nominal in the lease, and it was never understood that any used piano would be furnished, and this practically admitted in the depositions taken by the agent of the plaintiff who made the contract. These items raised a question of fact which should take the case to a jury In ejectment, after the jury had disagreed, a motion for judgment on the whole record by plaintiff was overruled where plaintiff sought to recover possession of real estate alleged by plaintiff to be the property of defendant who purchased the same at sheriff's sale as the property of defendant's husband, a conveyance to the wife by the husband having been made subsequent to the contracting of the debt due plaintiff. In this instance the Court could not dispose of the case on a It question of law. was for the jury Alienage of a juror, though not discovered until after the verdict has been received, recorded and the jury discharged, is not, per se, ground for a new trial where defendant has been convicted of murder of the first degree... The measure of damages where to recover plaintiff sued commissions on orders for goods sold on behalf of defendant would be the loss occasioned by defendant's actions in failing to give plaintiff proper support in the way of furnishing terms, prices, etc., and any loss sustained by the same, even though they may be speculative to a degree. These would be questions for the jury... 864 28 81 110 133 196 231 241 Trial by jury at common law means a trial by one jury of all the issues involved in the case, and the Federal courts have preserved this common law practice of jury trial in unbroken historic continuity in fulfillment of the constitutional guarantee, both in criminal and 401 civil cases, so that a new trial restricted to one issue in compliance with a State statute is unconstitutional Defendant driving an automobile was held liable in damages to plaintiff who was injured as he was about to enter a street car. Plaintiff claimed the street car had stopped and he had looked up and down the street before stepping from the curb. Defendant claimed the street car was slowing down, but had not stopped. This was a question for the jury and new trial refused..... 687 A jury which has viewed the premises has a right to take into consideration what they saw there, in connection with the estimates as to the value of the property given by the witnesses in Court.... JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. See Magistrate; Jurisdiction. JUVENILE COURT. The relator presented a petition to the Juvenile Court representing that she had remarried and was able to support and care for her son and prayed for a hearing that her son might be released from the Industrial Home. The petition was marked "filed," but there was nothing indicating action taken by the court. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus was then presented to the Common Pleas Court. It was held no action could be taken in the habeas corpus proceeding until the Juvenile Court has ruled on the first petition in the Juvenile Court Under 799 141 the Juvenile Court Act of Pennsylvania, a party who feels aggrieved by the judgment of the Court may have an appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Under the liberal procedure in habeas corpus, a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of the State Court, may have judicial inquiry in the Federal Courts into the very truth and substance of the causes of his detention, and if necessary, to look beyond the record sufficiently to test the jurisdiction of the Court under whose order he is restrained. In other words, the record can be attacked if in any way it fails to set forth the truth.. 414 The juvenile court has jurisdiction over delinquent children under 16 years of age and that court has power to make orders as to such children which will extend beyond the age of 16 years and until they arrive at the age of 21 years, under the Act of April 23, 1903, P. L. 275. 618 LABOR UNIONS. L. See Injunction; Insurance. LACHES. See also Contracts; Equity. The Act of June 15, 1915, P. L. 976, relating to water rates in municipalities gives the courts jurisdiction on appeal to make "such order and decree touching the matter complained of as may seem just and equitable." This warrant of authority is necessarily limited to a revision of those matters which may be legally "complained of" to the full board of water assessors, i. e., errors in assessments which that body has power to redress, by reduction or otherwise, and plaintiff who failed to make complaint to the Board of Water Assessors within the time required by the Act is estopped by his laches from raising the question in a court of equity. To wait until the city filed a lien and then defending upon sci, fa. would be too late.. LANDLORD AND TENANT. See also Ejectment, Replevin, Trespass. An injunction to restrain a landlord from evicting plaintiff, a tenant, from defendant's house was refused, where it was admitted tenant had held over after the expiration of the lease and there was a dispute whether there was an agreement that plaintiff should remain, plaintiff having refused to sign_a new lease at an advanced rent. Defendant was entitled to proceed under the provisions of the Act of 1863... Where plaintiff entered into possession of premises under a verbal lease for one year and when the lease came to be reduced to writing, plaintiff objected to conditions not embodied in the original agreement, and refused to sign the amended lease, equity will by preliminary injunction restrain defendant from ejecting plaintiff until final hearing The goods of a purchaser in possession of real estate are not liable for rent of a former tenant of the vendor under unexpired lease assigned to a subsequent purchaser whose claim of title prevailed over that of the former. 113 37 183 216 A preliminary injunction staying proceedings before a magistrate under the Act of 1863 was continued until final hearing, where the good faith of a sale of the property was called in question, and its effect upon the terms of the lease was material to the determination of the issue...... 350 Where a lease contained a clause that "in consideration of the reduced rental at which this lease is written, lessor reserves tae right to cancel this lease at any time during is term by serving thirty days' notice in writing to lessee, and the landlord was authorized to in enter judgment in ejectment, case the tenant refused to vacate upon notice, the lease being binding upon the heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns, it was held that equity had no jurisdiction to restrain a grantee from enforcing an action in ejectment.. 359 A tenant who has brought suit before an alderman to compel his landlord to defalk his just account against the claim for rent, is not thereby estopped from taking subsequent action by writ of replevin to test the landlord's right of distress for the rent in arrear... The Act of March 25, 1903, P. L. 54, relating to municipal corporations of the second class, creates the office of tenement house inspector, "whose duty it shall be to regularly inspect the tenement houses within this act and to see that the requirement therefor are enforced,' so that the owner of a tenement 391 Page. Subject. house was held liable in damages to an inspector who was injured by the breaking of stairs leading to a cellar while in the performance of his official duties.. Where a lease provided: "If rent is paid in full on January 1, 1919, then lessee may renew this lease for one year from May 1, 1919, on the same terms. but such renewal must be made before January 15, 1919," and the lease was renewed for another year on January 27, 1919, "subject to all the terms and conditions in the original lease," it was held that defendant had no right of renewal for another year from May 1, 1920, in that the original lease provided for a renewal from May 1, 1919, only One who leases from another and sublets becomes a landlord, and should have notice, under the Act of May 3, 1909, P. L. 423, that soda-water apparatus is not the property of the occupant of the premises... Where tenant was in default of rent for three months, and after a landlord's warrant had issued, paid the back rent, he could not complain if the landlord confessed judgment for an amicable ejectment before the expiration of the three months and before any rent was due when the lease contained the following clause: "A determining of the term, or the receipt of rent after default, or after judgment, or after execution, shall not deprive the lessor of other actions against the tenant for possession or for rent or for damages." Having executed the lease containing this clause and having failed to pay his rent according to the terms, the lessee would be bound by it Where the evidence in an action for damages against a landlord for the sale of household goods on a landlord's warrant justified punitive damages, the Court refused to set aside a verdict in favor of plaintiff where such damages were clearly allowed. and such verdict was not excessive Where a lease contains clauses authorizing the issuance of a landlord's warrant for rent in arrear, and also an entry of judgment by confession, the remedies are cumulative; a levy under the landlord's warrant will not prevent the landlord from ...... 425 440 551 617 623 entering judgment by confession for the same debt...... 639 A notice to a lessee to vacate the premises by a certain time must be construed to mean that the date set is the limit of time the lessee may remain upon the premises; he is under no obligation to remain until the expiration of the time stated in the notice. By giving the tenant such a notice the landlord gives the tenant the right to move at any time before the time specified in the notice.. 696 A lessor was enjoined from erecting a garage in a passageway beside lessee's apartment in that when respondent demised the premises to complainant by the lease in evidence, he demised those premises "in the condition in which they then were," with all the access then available, and it does not lie in the mouth of the lessor now to say when he closes the passageway against the protests of the lessee that there is another passageway onen for his use. as the garage would interfere with the free passage to and from the apartment as well as with the air and view.. 711 A clause in a lease requiring lessee to vacate the premises on 30 days' notice is not a privilege given the tenant to renew or to hold over after the expiration of the term named. Rule to open judgment confessed discharged A landlord was restrained by a permanent injunction from prosecuting ejectment proceedings against a tenant where a three-year lease provided that if the property was sold the lease would terminate on the first of the following April 1, and the agreement for the alleged sale was found to be simply an option to buy. This did not amount to a bona fide sale as contemplated by the lease .. Where a landlord who has covenanted to keep in repair demised premises, and where he employs a reputable carpenter and instructs him to make all necessary repairs, the landlord is thereby exonerated from all liability to all persons in privity with the tenant who were afterwards injured through defective conditions in the demised tenements, resulting from natural decay 714 769 $30 A rule to open a judgment confessed on a lease was made absolute where the evidence as to whether defendant had "sublet" the premises contrary to the terms of the lease was conflicting and made out a case of reasonable doubt. This would be a question for the jury.. 843 LARCENY. See also Criminal Law. When property is obtained with a preconcerted design to steal it the possession continues with the true owner whatever may be the means or pretense under which it is obtained, then the legal possession was never out of the prosecutors. and defendant was guilty of larceny "by trick and artifice" and not false pretense. The distinction between the two crimes lies in the intention with which the owner parted with the property. To invest the accused with mere possession, would be larceny; to invest the accused with possession and title, would be false pretense...... LEGACIES. The Act of July 12, 1897. P. L. 256. provides that any devise or legacy in favor of a brother or sister. when a testator leave no lineal descendants, "shall not be deemed or held to lapse" by reason of the decease of the devisee or legatee in the lifetime of the testator, if the former leaves issue surviving the latter, "saving always to every testator the right to direct otherwise" 81 296 Legatees or their representatives may by agreement, to be approved by the court, elect to take either in cash or in specie, but such a stipulation must be in proper form.... 497 A legacy payable upon an uncertain condition at the happening of a future certain event is a contingent legacy and does not vest in the legatees at testator's death, but where there is no such contingency, it is a vested legacy, so that where testator directed distribution of a trust fund without any condition, reservation or limitation, among specified legatees at the end of a life estate, there no contingency and the legaeies were vested. The Wills Act of June 7, 1917. P. L. 403, expressly repeals the Act of June 4 1879, P. L. 88, relating to lapsed devises and lapsed legacies.. 613 was 499 Statutes enacted at the same session of the legislature must, if possible, be construed so as to give effect to each It would be impossible for Congress to fix any definite standard, any fixed rate, as the measure for determining an unjust or unreasonable rate or charge for commodities. This because profits must always depend upon a number of varying elements, including time, place and circumstance. A fixed standard in practical operation, would necessarily prove unjust and unreasonable in the extreme. The words used in the Act of Congress of August 10, 1917, known as the Lever Act were of common use and of well-known meaning. If for profiteering and greater gain the merchant takes the risk of violating the statute, he cannot complain if the jury denounces his act as unlawful.. The Lever Act of October 22, 1919, is not a manifestation of the power of legislation on matters of internal revenue, nor is it a matter within the domain of interstate commerce. The Act deals with commodities after they have come to rest and are ready for distribution... Following action by the Congress of the the legislature of this State took action and an Act approved the 23rd of May, 1919, Act passed in 1887, United States 122 289 293 statu 310 amending an embraces the present State tory law on the subject and Tenant; LESSOR AND LESSEE. Oil See also Landlord and Gas. Allegations on the part of the defendant in his petition, such as the fact that he has lost in business by reason of this instrument not having worked in accordance with the representations of the plaintiff, but if that were a fact he could have rescinded his lease at any time and protected his business by putting in a proper instrument, was no ground for opening a judgment confessed on a lease Where a lease provided: "If rent is paid in full on January 1, 1919 then lessee may renew this lease for one year from May 1, 1919, on the same terms, but such renewal must be made before January 15, 1919," and the lease was renewed for another year on January 27, 1919, "subject to all the terms and conditions in the original lease," it was held that defendant had no right of renewal for another year from May 1, 1920, in that the original lease provided for a renewal from May 1, 1919, only Evidence to fraudulent misrepresentations changing the terms of a written lease was held insufficient where plaintiff alleged that he was induced to buy a business together with the lease where the terms of the original lease were changed by the explicit terms of a subsequent lease A sheriff's sale of real estate on a foreclosure of a mortgage did not divest a lease executed subsequent to the mortgage where the sale was made not so much to make the money as to divest the lease it as 133 440 474 Page. the appearing defendant prior to sale had contracted to buy the property and the foreclosure proceedings were used to convey title to him. It was held that to divest the lease under such conditions would be a fraud on defendant's rights .... 667 A notary public of one county has no authority to take the affidavits of applicants for a marriage license to be issued by the clerk of the Orphans' Court of another county. A jobber was not liable for a mercantile license tax where the evidence showed that of the gross amount of business transacted and upon which the assessment of tax was made, was derived from business carried on with residents of foreign states and was therefore interstate business which is not subject to tax by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ..... 139 Section 15 of the Act of July 12, 1919, P. L. 933, applies only to those who on and after July 1, 1919, enter upon the practice of architecture in Pennsylvania. It does not apply those persons who have been practicing architecture prior to the passage of the Act.. The Act of June 30, 1919, P. L. 702. regulating motor vehicles, is an exercise of police power of the State. Its regulations are reasonable and apply uniformly to all persons, whether natural or artificial, so that a corporation organized under the General Incorpora to 187 following borough, Borough Code of May 14th, 1915, P. L. 312, in Chap. VI, Art. XX Sec. 8, empowering boroughs to "enact ordinances establishing reasonable rates of license fees on all vehicles used in carrying persons or property for pay," enacts an ordinance imposing a schedule of annual licenses, such ordinance is invalid as the applied to of an autoowner mobile truck used by a baker in delivering his products first obtaining a license. City v Krause's Estate, 21, construed without Reading 167 Pa., paid There is no authority in the Act of May 7, 1907, P. L. 161, as amended by the Act of May 3, 1915, P. L. 219, defining the powers and duties of the dental council and the State board of dental examiners to revoke the right to practice dentistry unless that right is based upon a license. The Act does not include the taking away of the right to practice a profession which was secured prior to the granting of 11censes, but is limited to the revocation or suspension of a license granted by the board The Commissioner of State Highways is not obliged to suspend the license of any owner, operator or driver of a motor veicle, although an accident has happened through his recklessness or carelessness and the sworn statements of two reputable citizens have been furnished. The power lodged in the Commission by the Act of June 30, 1919, P. L. 678, is discretionary. Each case should be decided in the light of its peculiar facts The only recourse against the owner of a dog or harborer of a dog who permits it to run at large or who killed it subsequent to Janary 15, and who failed to take out a license prior or on that date is a prosecution for the failure or refusal to comply with the provisions of the Act of July 11, 1917, P. L. 818, by taking out a license within the time therein prescribed LIENS. is Neither the Act of 1901, P. L. 364, nor the Act of April 27 1909, P. L. 194, requires notice to be given to the registered owner of real estate of the party in possession, either when the original claim or any suggestion and averment of non-payment filed, SO that a school tax filed against a predecessor of defendant in title and revived without notice to the subsequent vendees was held to be a valid, subsisting and enforcible lien. By the Act of 1909, the claimant is given the option to revive and continue lien the by filing of record a suggestion of nonpayment and averment of default, instead of pursuing the method provided by the Act of 1901. Binding instructions were given for defendant at the trial on a scire facias by a borough to recover on a municipal lien for grading, paving and curbing a street, where the borough failed to prove that the improvement had been on a public rather than a private street, defendant claiming that it was a mere private road and borough authorities had entered upon the same 190 223 281 430 782 17 Page. without having acquired any right or title therein A writ of levari facias based upon a scire facias sur tax lien for a borough tax filed in the prothonotary's office under the Act of June 4, 1901, P. L. 364, was set aside in favor of a prior tax lien for the same tax filed in the County Commissioners' office under the Act of June 25, 1885, P. L. 187, and upon which the property was being advertised for sale A scire facias upon a commonwealth lien is taxable and a scire facias to revive a judgment is not taxable under the Act of April 6, 1830, P. L., 272. There is nothing in the act taxing appeals of any character as such LIFE INSURANCE. See Assumpsit; Contracts; Insurance. LIFE TENANT. See also Curtesy; Descent and Distribution; Remainder. 31 579 645 Where the trustee of a fund raised LIQUOR LICENSES. |