In re Heidler

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
In re Heidler, 122 Pa. 653 (Pa. 1888)
16 A. 97; 1888 Pa. LEXIS 639
Clark, Gordon, Green, Hand, Paxson, Sterrett, Williams

In re Heidler

Opinion of the Court

Opinion,

Mr. Justice Sterrett :

The act of April 17, 1876, under which this proceeding was commenced, authorizes the Court of Quarter Sessions to “annex the land, or parts thereof, of persons resident in one township or borough to another township or borough, for school purposes, so that when so annexed the applicant shall pay his school taxes and be included within the school district to which it is so annexed for educational purposes, and remain connected with the district or township of his residence for all other purposes ; and the court shall, upon the petition of any one desiring such change, proceed by views and reviews, in the manner and under the restrictions provided under the act of the general assembly, approved April 15, 1834, with its supplements, in regard to the alteration of the lines of any two or more adjoining townships.” The last mentioned act, among other things, requires the viewers to make a plot or draft “ of the lines proposed to be altered of two or more adjoining townships,” and return the same with their report to court, etc.

The petition in this case is silent as to whether the farm proposed to be annexed to Stowe township school district adjoins that district or not; but it clearly appears from the plot or draft attached to and forming part of the report of viewers, that it does not. The effect of the decree, therefore, would be to make that school district consist of two detached bodies of land, entirely separated from each other by an intervening portion of Robinson township school district. Such a result was- never contemplated by the act; nor, indeed, can it be accomplished without ignoring, in part at least, the mode of proceeding prescribed by the act. The object of the petitioner was not to so change the boundary line of the school district as to include his farm, and thus make a single district composed of a compact body of adjoining lands. That would be susceptible of accomplishment in case his farm adjoined the *657district to which he sought to have it attached, but not otherwise.

Petitions under the act should set forth that the land proposed to be annexed adjoins the district to which the court is asked to annex it. In that respect the petition in this case is fatally defective, and should not have been entertained.

Decree reversed, and petition dismissed at the costs of the petitioner.

Reference

Full Case Name
IN RE PETITION OF J. S. HEIDLER
Status
Published
Syllabus
1. The act of April 17, 1876, P. L. 38, authorizing the Court of Quarter Sessions to annex the land, or parts thereof, of persons resident in one township or borough to another township or borough, for school purposes, and to proceed in the manner and under the restrictions of the act of April 15, 1884, P. L. 589, does not authorize the annexation of lands in one township to tlie school district of another when such lands do not adjoin the latter. 2. A petition under said act of 1876 which does not set forth that the land, proposed to be annexed for school purposes, adjoins the township to which the court is asked to annex it, is fatally defective and should not bo entertained.