Williamsport v. Lycoming County
Williamsport v. Lycoming County
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The Maynard Street Bridge Company was incorporated in July, 1875, under the provisions of the general corporation act of 1874, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a toll-bridge over the West Branch of the Susquehanna river “from the foot of Maynard street ” (in the city of Williamsport) “ to a point opposite in Armstrong township.”
At the date of the company’s charter, the foot of Maynard street was at Filbert or First street — 1,985 feet distant from the river — and in August of the following year the bridge company obtained a conveyance of a strip of land sixty feet wide extending from this point in Filbert street to the river. It is set forth in the case stated that this was conveyed to the company as an approach to the bridge from the highway on the north, and the deed contains this pertinent recital: “ The same covering and being the way, approach and street from the line of Filbert street by an extension of Maynard street to the south line of the north abutment of the bridge aforesaid.”
In 1891, residents and taxpayers of the county instituted and carried to successful termination, proceedings under the Act of May 8, 1876, P. L. 181, to have the bridge taken as a county bridge. It was described in the petition as being erected “ across the West Branch of the Susquehanna River at and opposite to the foot of a public highway in the city of Williamsport, known as Maynard street; the said river crossing the said highway and the public road leading to said bridge at its southerly end in Armstrong township.” Damages in the sum of |41,522 “ by reason of the taking of the same, including the value of the bridge, franchises and toll houses,” were awarded to the bridge company, and paid by the county, and since the termination of these proceedings in December, 1891, it is admitted, the county kept both the basin bridge and the river bridge in repair, and restored both bridges after the flood of May 20,1894, which practically destroyed them. It is also admitted that since that flood, which injured the embankment between the two bridges, the county commissioners have several times repaired the roadway, the slopes leading therefrom to the north end of the river bridge and to the south end of the basin bridge, and also a plank walk for pedestrians which was laid
In December, 1901, one Charles M. Shooter was injured by a fall occasioned by the defective condition of the sidewalk at a point described in the case stated as being “ upon the slope leading to the north end of the river bridge, and within one hundred feet of the wing walls.” He brought separate suits against the county of Lycoming and the city of Williamsport, which were compromised by payment to him by the city of a certain sum, under an agreement between the city and the county which stipulated for the present suit and case stated. The controlling question for decision is, whether the county was charged with the duty to maintain and keep in repair the highway between the two bridges, and particularly the slope to the north end of the river bridge at the place where the accident occurred; for without the duty of repair no liability rests on the county: Elliott on Roads and Streets, sec. 53 ; Rapho v. Moore, 68 Pa. 404. The learned judge below held in a well-considered opinion that the county was not liable and in that conclusion we concur.
Inasmuch as the approaches necessary to make a bridge accessible are generally held in Pennsylvania to be included within the meaning of the term, it follows that the duty to repair such approaches is upon the county, if under the statute it is the duty of the county to repair the bridge : Francis v. Franklin Township, 179 Pa. 195; Penn Township v. Perry County, 78 Pa. 457 ; Westfield Borough v. Tioga County, 150 Pa. 152. Where the duty of maintaining highways is imposed on cities, townships and boroughs, and the duty of maintaining bridges is imposed on the county, the question as to what constitutes an approach to the bridge, in other words, where the duty of the county begins and the duty of the city, borough or township ends, must generally depend for its determination upon the facts of the particular case, and not upon any arbitrary rule relative to the distance from the bridge structure. There is an obvious distinction between the way, concededly a highway, leading from Filbert street to the bridge in question and the approach necessary to convenient access from that highway to the bridge proper. A similar distinction between an approach to a bridge and a way leading to a bridge was recognized in Commonwealth v. Loomis, 128 Pa. 174, where Justice
In Commonwealth v. Commissioners of Monroe County, 2 W. & S. 495 (1841), it was declared upon review and consideration of our legislation from the year 1700 to the year 1836, that “ when a county bridge has been once legally built, such ordinary repairs as are necessary to preserve it fit for use, are to be made by the supervisors of the townships, as in the case of roads.” Of course the court was not speaking of bridges over streams on the line of adjoining counties. There is a dictum in Howe v. Crawford County, 47 Pa. 361, decided in 1864, to the effect that the duty to keep in repair a county bridge established by judicial proceedings prior to the act of 1836 devolved upon the county; but in Erie County v. Commonwealth, 127 Pa. 197, this was declared to in conflict with Commonwealth v. Monroe, and was expressly disapproved, and the general rule, as declared in that case, was reaffirmed as to counties excepted from the operation of the Act of April 13, 1843, P. L. 221. This general rule is not affirmatively expressed in so many words in the act of 1836, but as the bridge when completed becomes part of the highway, the duty of repair must necessarily devolve upon the township or other municipal division of the state on which rests the duty of repairing the highway of which it forms a part, if no statute, either expressly or by clear implication, imposes the duty upon the county. This we understand to be the doctrine of Commonwealth v. Monroe County and Erie County v. Commonwealth. Shortly after the former case was decided, and, it may be surmised, because of what was said in that case as to the duty of repair, the act of 1843 was passed. This act made it the duty of the county commissioners, except in Washington and some other counties, to repair “ all bridges erected by the county,” and to pay the expenses of such repairs out of the county treasury in the usual manner. The bridge in question was not originally “ erected ” by the county. But as the act of 1876, relative to the acquisition of
But whatever be the significance that the omission to mention cities in the act of 1859 would have in the supposed case, it can have none in the determination of the question before us, in view of the fact that there was no city in either county at the time the act was passed or extended. .This being remembered, it is plain that the primary object of the law was not to regulate the affairs of boroughs and townships as distinguished from cities, but to reinstate in the particular county the law as to the repair of county bridges as it existed prior to the act of 1843. The purpose of the legislature being
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
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- Bridges — County bridges — Cities—Duty to repair — Toll bridges. Where the duty of maintaining highways is imposed on cities, townships and boroughs, and the duty of maintaining bridges is imposed on the county, the question as to what constitutes an approach to the bridge, in other words, where the duty of the county begins and the duty of the city, borough or township ends, must generally depend for its determination upon the facts of the particular case, and not upon any arbitrary rule relative to the distance from the bridge structure. A company was incorporated under the act of 1874 for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a toll bridge over the west branch of the Susquehanna river from the foot of Maynard street in the city of Williamsport to a point opposite in Armstrong Township; the foot of Maynard street was 1,985 feet distant from the river, and in the following year the company acquired title to a strip of land sixty feet wide extending from that point to the river; in the meantime it constructed a bridge over the river, a bridge over a log basin which lay between the river and the foot of Maynard street, and an artificial roadway about 700 feet long extending from the river bridge to the basin bridge of an average width of thirty feet, and varying in height from three to fifteen feet above the natural level of the land; for twenty-five years this roadway was kept open continuously for public travel, and was used as a public highway by all persons who desired to cross the bridge, as well as by those who desired access to the river and the fields lying on either side of the roadway; in 1891 the county acquired the bridge in proceedings under the act of 1876. Held, in a case stated between the city and the county to determine whether the former or the latter 'was liable for an accident to a pedestrian, that, assuming that the duty of repairing county bridges and their approaches devolved upon the county, it did' not extend to the whole of the highway connecting the two bridges, and that it was incumbent on the plaintiff to show that the place of the accident was within the limits of the approach necessary to make the bridge accessible physically from that highway. Distinction between an approach to a bridge and a way provided for reaching the bridge from another highway considered. Under the Act March 30, 1859, P. L. 309, extended to the county of Lycoming by the Act of March 12,1860, P. L. 144, the city of Williams-port was bound to keep in repair a county bridge located within its limits, and this was the case, although Williamsport was not a city when the act of March 12,1860, was passed. In Pennsylvania there is no common-law duty of counties to repair highways, or bridges or sidewalks and highways; such duty, and consequent liability for negligence in the care thereof, must be imposed by statute, or be held not to exist. Prior to the Acts of March 30, 1905, P. L. 75, 81, the duty of the city of Williamsport to repair county bridges situated within the municipal limits, applied not only to bridges built at the expense of the county, but also to toll bridges which had been freed from tolls, and acquired by the county in proceedings instituted under the Act of May 8, 1876, P. L. 131. Case stated — Facts set forth — Material facts — Practice, C. P. It is essential to a case stated that all the material facts be agreed upon, so that the court may have nothing to do but to pronounce the law arising out of them. As in a special verdict, the facts must be distinctly and expressly agreed upon and set forth as admitted,’ and not left to be inferred from mere evidence; whatever is not so set forth will be taken not to exist.