Citizens Natural Gas Co. v. Calvert
Citizens Natural Gas Co. v. Calvert
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The principal error disclosed by this record is in the ques
The several facts thus passed upon by the court are not only distinct in themselves, but raise distinct questions of law. Namely: did the plaintiff own the pipe taken under the writ, or was the right to lay either line of pipe lawfully acquired, in the first instance ; if so, are these rights regularly merged in the appellee ; or was this merged right abandoned; or can it now be asserted by the present owner of the land, who bought without notice; or is the appellee now asserting a claim based on a private right; or does its claim arise under the power of eminent domain, as now contended for by the appellee.
We thus find several questions of fact resting upon oral testimony, joined with questions of law, and all included in the reservation. Under all the authorities this is fatal to it: Casey v. Penna. Asphalt Paving Co., 198 Pa. 348, and Mayne v. The Fidelity & Deposit Co., 198 Pa. 490. Only questions of law can be reserved. While these may embrace conclusions of fact, such conclusions must be duly found by the jury or admitted of record, or stated by the court in the nature of conclusions, without exception by either party. Whereupon they may be reserved as legal questions. The rule controlling reserved questions is laid down in the cases referred to by Mr. Justice Fell as follows: “ 1. The question must be one of law purely. 2. It must be one which rules the case so com
It is very evident that the reservation here is bad both in form and substance, and for this reason the judgment must be reversed and a venire facias de novo awarded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.