Commonwealth ex rel. Rogers v. Bennett
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
IN ERROR. Writ of error to the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming county. This suit was originally brought in the .name of the Commonwealth, for the use of Seth Rogers, against John Bennett, before a justice of the peace, to recover the penalty of twenty dollars, imposed by the' eighth section of the arbitration act of the 20th of March, 1810, for neglecting to serve notice of the time and place of the meeting of arbitrators on Solomon Barless, an arbitrator in the case of…
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IN ERROR. Writ of error to the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming county. This suit was originally brought in the .name of the Commonwealth, for the use of Seth Rogers, against John Bennett, before a justice of the peace, to recover the penalty of twenty dollars, imposed by the' eighth section of the arbitration act of the 20th of March, 1810, for neglecting to serve notice of the time and place of the meeting of arbitrators on Solomon Barless, an arbitrator in the case of John Bennett v. Seth Rogers, pending in the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming county; in which case a rule of reference…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
The right of trial by jury is supposed to be guarded by the constitution, and we are, therefore, to construe acts of assembly, which admit of construction, and would otherwise impair it, so as not to infringe on the constitution. The penalty in question, is made recoverable as debts of less amount than five dollars and thirty-three cents are recoverable, in respect to which the judgment is without appeal. But there are other consequences peculiar to an action for a debt of this class; such, for instance, as the judgment being without stay…
2Cited by1 opinion
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