Commonwealth ex rel. Sharon School District v. Stambaugh

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania October 22, 1894

Commonwealth ex rel. Sharon School District v. Stambaugh, 164 Pa. 437 (Pa. 1894)

30 A. 293; 1894 Pa. LEXIS 1097

Curtam, Dean, Fell, Green, McCollum, Mitchell, Sterrett, Williams

Opinion of the Court

Per Curtam,

In this case a special verdict, embodying all the material facts, was rendered by the jury. On that the learned judge entered judgment in favor of the plaintiff. In doing so he fully considered and correctly disposed of all the questions presented by the facts established by the special verdict. In his opinion, sent up with the record, will be found all that can be profitably said on the questions involved; and on it we affirm the judgment.

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name: Commonwealth to use Sharon School District v. J. W. Stambaugh
Cited By: 7 cases
Status: Published
Syllabus: Tax collector ■— Filing of bond—Liability of surety — Warrant and tax duplicate—Public officers—Acts of April 15, 1834, and June 25, 1885. Under the act of June 25,1885, P. L. 187, which provides that the court shall declare the office of tax collector vacant if the collector fails to file his bond before the fourth day of the term of the court of quarter sessions next ensuing his election, the sureties on the collector’s bond, filed after the fourth day, cannot allege that the collector was not regularly qualified. Under the act the office is not vacant until the court declares it to be so. Under the act of June 25, 1885, P. L. 187, the sureties on a tax collector’s bond are liable for school taxes collected by him, although the school directors did not deliver to the collector their warrant with the tax duplicate of the year. Such a collector, when lawfully possessed of the duplicate for collection, would, without a warrant, have authority to demand, receive and receipt for the taxes embraced in the duplicate, although he could not enforce his demand by seizure of property or person. What he would so receive, he would receive by virtue of his office, and it would be covered by his bond. A tax collector who has received a duplicate for school taxes under the act of June 25,1885, P. L. 187, is liable for the whole amount of the duplicate remaining unpaid and unexonerated after three months from the time the collector receives the corrected duplicate, as provided by the act of April 15, 1834, § 29, P. L. 518. Appropriation of payments. Where a tax collector expressly appropriates payments to the duplicate of one year by cheeks drawn on his general fund, and it is impossible to ascertain whether the money so paid was collected in that or the following year, the sureties on the collector’s bond for the following year are not entitled to have any of the payments credited to the duplicate of the year for which they are liable.