Taylor v. Mitchell
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Certificate from Nisi Prius: In Equity: July Term 1867, J No. 21. I This was a bill by Ellen Keene Mitchell against Franklin Taylor, filed May 11th 1867. The bill alleged that Sarah Lukens Keene was seised of certain real estate at the corner of Badcliff and Mulberry streets, in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and died in 1866, having made a will which was proved June 9th 1866. The will, which was made part of the bill, was dated November 18th 1843, and contains, amongst others,…
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Certificate from Nisi Prius: In Equity: July Term 1867, J No. 21. I This was a bill by Ellen Keene Mitchell against Franklin Taylor, filed May 11th 1867. The bill alleged that Sarah Lukens Keene was seised of certain real estate at the corner of Badcliff and Mulberry streets, in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and died in 1866, having made a will which was proved June 9th 1866. The will, which was made part of the bill, was dated November 18th 1843, and contains, amongst others, these provisions:— “ I give and devise to my trustees and their successors, who shall be appointed as hereinafter directed,…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered, by
Sharswood, J.
There is no canon of construction better settled than this, that a statute shall always be interpreted so as to *212operate prospectively and not retrospectively, unless the language is so clear as to preclude all question as to the intention of the legislature: Neff’s Appeal, 9 Harris 243; Fisher v. Earley, 11 Id. 501; Becker’s Appeal, 3 Casey 52. Lord Bacon expressed concisely the same rule: Ñeque enimplaeet Janus in legibus.
Retrospective laws generally if not universally work injustice, and ought to be so construed only when the mandate of…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Mullock v. SouderSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1843
3Cited by43 opinions
- Commonwealth v. ScoleriSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1960
- Overmiller v. D. E. Horn & Co.Superior Court of Pennsylvania · 1960
- Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington R. R. v. Quaker City Flour Mills Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1924
- Commonwealth Ex Rel. Greenawalt v. GreenawaltSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1943
- Sproul v. Standard Plate Glass Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1902
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