Hayward v. Samuel

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Linn,

This was a taxpayer’s class bill to restrain certain officers of Philadelphia from expending public funds 1 in exterminating pigeons in the section of the city bounded by Girard Avenue, Delaware River, South Street and the Schuylkill River. The bill alleged that the ordinance was “invalid, illegal and unconstitutional.” The Society For The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was made a party defendant because its lethal chambers were used to destroy the pigeons.

The challenged ordinance was passed on October 17, 1945, and amends section 1 of an ordinance of 1869…