Dunmore Borough School District v. Wahlers
Dunmore Borough School District v. Wahlers
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The Act of May 21, 1857, P. L. 631, which made it the duty of township and borough auditors respectively to settle annually the accounts of the treasurer of the school district, also gave the officer accounting and the school district the same right to appeal from such settlement to the court of common pleas that was allowed in the settlement of the accounts of township officers by the Act of April 15, 1834, sec. 104, P. L. 537. Speaking of the act of 1834, Chief Justice Thompson said: “ But there is no provision for an appeal from the decision of the latter (the common pleas) to this court, and as the whole system is statutory we cannot assume jurisdiction of such an appeal without statutory authority.” Accordingly the appeal was quashed: Gangewere’s Appeal, 61 Pa. 342. This decision was followed by the Supreme Court in Springbrook Township v. Thomas, 8 Luz. Leg. Reg. 112, in Mohney v. Red Bank Twp. School District, 15 Atl. Repr. 891, and again in Thomas v. Upper Merion Township, 148 Pa. 116, decided in 1892. In Gifford v. County of Erie, 142 Pa. 408, decided
There is no such defect or irregularity apparent on the face of this record. The only one suggested is, that no issue was framed and submitted to a jury. But the act of 1834 does not make this mandatory and indispensable in all cases. The language is, “ the court may direct an issue to determine disputed facts, if necessary.” In the absence of an exception bringing the court’s ruling upon this question, and the facts pertinent to it, upon the record, the presumption on appeal is that it was correct.
The case was heard on depositions. The learned president of the court filed an elaborate opinion discussing the questions of fact and law involved in the case and entered the following judgment: “Now, August 8,1904, it is ordered that August
Appeal quashed.
Reference
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- Appeals — Township and borough auditors — School district treasurer — Act of May 11, 1901, P. L. 185 — Exceptions. On an appeal from a judgment of the court of common pleas sustaining an appeal from a report of borough auditors, the appellate court can only take into consideration some fatal defect or irregularity in the proceedings apparent on the face of the record proper, or some “ruling or decision” of the court below upon some “question or point of law” which was duly excepted to. In such a case a general exception to the judgment against the accounting officer is not sufficient to entitle such officer, in the appellate court, to a review of the entire case upon the merits, or to a review of the judge’s findings of fact and his conclusions of law based thereon which were not specifically excepted to. Under the Act of April 15, 1834, sec. 104, P. L. 537, relating to appeals from the settlement of the accounts of township officers, an issue framed and submitted to a jury is not mandatory and indispensable in all cases, If no exception has been taken to the ruling of the court refusing an issue, the question cannot be raised in the appellate court on a mere general exception to the judgment of the court below.