Short v. Commonwealth

Opinion by

Judge Rogers,

This is an appeal from a decree below dismissing exceptions to a report of viewers and from judgment entered on the report. The exceptions raised a legal question fundamental to the inquiry. See Lakewood Memorial Gardens Appeal, 381 Pa. 46, 112 A. 2d 135 (1955).

*93The appellants are the owners of residential properties abutting a state highway. Their lots are at a higher elevation than the roadway. The Commonwealth, acting by its Department of Highways, desiring to widen the paved cartway, appropriated a strip of land from each of the appellants’ lots varying from 15 to 25…