Com. ex rel. Hensel v. Order of Solon
Com. ex rel. Hensel v. Order of Solon
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
In Order of Solon v. Folsom, 161 Pa. 225, it had been decided by the court below that the respondents therein were the proper officers of the corporation, and this decision, notwithstanding some doubts arising from the confusion and irregular
There being no objection to the action as contravening any order of this court, we have only to consider whether the proceedings were regular. The decree was entered on the suggestion of the attorney general, and the answer of the order. The parties making that answer had been adjudged to be the true representatives of the order. The interveners had no standing whatever at that time. The right of members to intervene where their official representatives are acting fraudulently or in excess of their authority is not denied, but any such question is concluded here by the action of the supreme lodge, in accepting as final the decree of the court of Dauphin county founded on the answer and directing the officers of the order to take no appeal. When, following that action, the supreme lodge omitted to elect any new officers and adjourned sine die, the whole ground of contention came to an end. The corporation had ceased to exist, the meeting of a minority
It is not necessary to consider the question, so strenuously argued by appellant, that the court of Dauphin county cannot compel a corporation, chartered and doing business in another county, to appear before it on quo warranto, and that the act of April 7, 1870, P. L. 57, is to that extent unconstitutional. All courts of common pleas, under the act of 1836, have general jurisdiction by quo warranto over the subject-matter of forfeiture by non-user or misuser of corporate lights. Jurisdiction over any individual corporation depends therefore not on the purpose sought by the writ, but on getting the particular defendant in court. It is a matter of service or appearance. In the present case service was accepted, and appearance entered by the parties who as already said had been adjudge'd the proper representatives for the time being of the corporation, and their action had been ratified by the governing head of the order.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.