Commonwealth ex rel. Hall v. Canal Commissioners
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
THIS was an application by Elizabeth Hall for a rule- to show cause why a mandamus should not issue to the canal commissioners of Pennsylvania requiring them to pay the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars to the petitioner, being the amount of damages awarded to her by the board of appraisers for injury done to her lands by reason of the construction of the canal.
Read the full summary
THIS was an application by Elizabeth Hall for a rule- to show cause why a mandamus should not issue to the canal commissioners of Pennsylvania requiring them to pay the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars to the petitioner, being the amount of damages awarded to her by the board of appraisers for injury done to her lands by reason of the construction of the canal. On the 24th of August 1835, Elizabeth Hall made an application to the canal commissioners for the payment of damages done to her land, and they offered to pay her 200 dollars in full, which she refused, and appealed to the…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
It is usually said that a power of a private nature —that is, a power to do a private act—must be executed by all to whom it is given; but that a power of a public nature, or to do a public act, may be executed by a majority. That there is a distinction, is undoubted; but that the specific ground of it is to be found in the nature of the act, is not quite so clear. In Withnell v. Gartham, 6 Term Rep. 388, a power to appoint a private charity which had been delegated by a testator to the ■ vicar ahd churchwardens of the parish, was held to…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Case of a Turnpike Road ex rel. Chad's Ford to the State LineSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1813
- Commissioners v. LeckySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1820
3Cited by7 opinions
- People ex rel. Crawford v. LothropSupreme Court of Colorado · 1877
- Cooley v. O'ConnorSupreme Court of the United States · 1871
- First National Bank v. Town of Mount TaborSupreme Court of Vermont · 1879
- Schenck v. PeayU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Arkansas · 1868
- State Ex Rel. Vans Agnew v. DavidsonSupreme Court of Florida · 1934
2 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.