Briegel v. City of Philadelphia
Briegel v. City of Philadelphia
Opinion of the Court
Opinion,
The first six specifications of error are to the findings of fact and the assessment of damages, but the report of the referee having been confirmed by the court, and no plain mistake being shown, we dismiss them without discussion.
But the learned counsel for the city have made an urgent and ingenious effort to bring this case within the ruling in Ford v. School Dist., 121 Pa. 543. The distinction, however, is plain. That case was an action for the negligence of the
The present action differs from the class we have been considering, in being against the city of Philadelphia, and in being an action for nuisance by the negligent use of property. The city, having a general power of taxation, and exercising full municipal functions, comes under the larger measure of liability spoken of by Judge Dillon. Just how far this liar bility extends has not been definitely decided, as is said by our Brother Clark, in Boyd v. Insurance Patrol, 113 Pa. 269, 279, where he reviews the cases with special reference to the liabilities of charitable or other corporations exercising a quasi municipal function. Nor is the distinction between the cases where municipal corporations have been held liable and where they have not, entirely logical or obvious, as was observed by Chief Justice Gordon in Ford v. School Dist., 121 Pa. 543, 549. But, in the class of cases to which the present belongs, injuries arising from the misuse of land, there has never been
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- C. M. BRIEGEL v. CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
- Cited By
- 53 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. A municipal corporation, owning and holding property for public purposes, is as much subject to the usual rule, sic utere tuo ut alienum non Redas, as are private citizens, and is liable to an adjoining owner for injuries arising from a nuisance maintained upon its property: Shuter v. Philadelphia, 3 Phila. 228, approved. (a) Under local statutes, the public schools in the city of Philadelphia are maintained by means of appropriations made by couneils out of taxes levied and collected by the city. A defectively-constructed privy well, maintained upon city property used for public school purposes, created a nuisance to the injury of an adjoining owner: 2. In such case, the city is liable for the injury by virtue of its ownership of the premises: Ford v. School Dist., 121 Pa. 543, and Erie School D. v. Fuess, 98 Pa. 600, distinguished, on the ground that the action in the present case was against a municipal corporation proper, and the injury complained of was a nuisance arising from the negligent use of city property.