Barker v. City of Pittsburgh
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the District Court of Alleghany county. Sept. IS»-. This was an action of assumpsit brought by the plaintiff’ in error, who was plaintiff below, against the defendant in error, to recover one quarter of a year’s salary, as collector of tolls at the aqueduct, across the Alleghany river. The aqueduct erectéd by the state, across the Alleghany river at • the city of Pittsburgh, had become so much impaired by time, as to be impassable.
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Error to the District Court of Alleghany county. Sept. IS»-. This was an action of assumpsit brought by the plaintiff’ in error, who was plaintiff below, against the defendant in error, to recover one quarter of a year’s salary, as collector of tolls at the aqueduct, across the Alleghany river. The aqueduct erectéd by the state, across the Alleghany river at • the city of Pittsburgh, had become so much impaired by time, as to be impassable. The legislature, unwilling to appropriate a sum sufficient to rebuild the same, passed an act, which was approved the 19th day of January, 1844,…
1Per curiam
That there is no contract, express or implied, for the permanence of a salary, is shown by the constitutional provision for the permanence of the salaries of the governor and judges, as exceptions. That there is a strong moral obligation, independent of constitutional provisions, is not to be disputed; but a moral obligation, however sacred, is not a ground for the enforcement of it as a legal right, with which alone we have power to deal. *52The point, however, was decided in the Commonwealth v. Bacon, 6 Serg. & Rawle, 322, which is conclusive as a precedent; and the plaintiff is without remedy…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Commonwealth v. BaconSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1820
3Cited by5 opinions
- Commonwealth ex rel. Attorney General v. MathuesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1904
- Wagoner v. PhiladelphiaSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1906
- Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Judges Professional Ass'n v. Executive Board of the CommonwealthCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania · 2012
- Carson v. City of PhiladelphiaPennylvania Municipal Court, Philadelphia County · 1936
- Commonwealth ex rel. Attorney General v. MathuesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1904