Swissvale Borough v. Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad
Swissvale Borough v. Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The complaint of the Borough of Swissvale is that the appellees have encroached upon and obstructed a public
In a proceeding in equity to enjoin the obstruction of a public road or highway, if there be uncertainty as to its location — that is, if there is uncertainty whether the locus in quo is a public road — an injunction will not go out: Bunnell’s Appeal, 69 Pa. 59. The seventh fact found by the learned chancellor is as follows: “Assuming the road in question to have been actually opened on the ground to a width of sixty feet, throughout its length in the Borough of Swissvale, and assuming that if it could now be accurately located, it would be subject to the jurisdiction of the borough, it is impossible, under the evidence, to find as a fact, that any of the tracks of the defendant companies are on any part of the road, because (ignoring the plan at No. 235, October Term, 1859, as it must be ignored, by reason of its glaring inaccuracies, fully shown by the evidence) it does not appear that any part of the tracks is on what was ever the traveled part of the road, and the location of the remaining portion of the sixty feet in width has not been definitely ascertained. Therefore, it is found, as a fact, that no main track nor siding (except the siding where it crosses almost at right angles the road) is on the
Appeal dismissed at appellant’s costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Swissvale Borough v. Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad Company
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Railroads — Obstruction of public road — Uncertainty as to location — Injunction—Equity—Appeals. 1. In a proceeding in equity to enjoin the obstruction of a public road or highway, if there be uncertainty as to the location of the road, that is, if there is uncertainty whether the locus in quo is a public road, an injunction will not go out. 2. On a bill in equity against a railroad company for a mandatory order to compel the removal of tracks from a public road, a decree refusing the order will be affirmed where facts are found at the request of defendant, and not assigned as error, to the effect that the railroad company had never in any way encroached upon the public road in question.