Heffner v. Commonwealth ex rel. Kline
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Common Pleas of Schuylkill'county. This was an application for a writ of mandamus by Jacob Kline against Samuel Heffner and others, members of the Town Council of the borough of Pottsville.
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Error to the Common Pleas of Schuylkill'county. This was an application for a writ of mandamus by Jacob Kline against Samuel Heffner and others, members of the Town Council of the borough of Pottsville. On the 23d day of June, 1856, the relator filed a petition setting forth that he was a citizen and owner of real estate in the borough of Pottsville; that the defendants were members of the town council, and that an Act of Assembly had been passed on the 8th day of April, 1850, enacting “ that the town council of the borough of Pottsville shall have the power and authority, and it is hereby…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Woodward, J.
In order to obtain a writ of mandamus the applicant must have a right to enforce which is specific, complete, and legal, and for which there is no other specific legal remedy. When public rights are to be subserved, public officers must apply for the writ. But if a private individual make himself the relator, he must show some particular right or privilege of his own, independently of that which he holds with the public at large: Wellington’s Case, 16 Pick. 87. Hence, it was held in Sanger v. Commissioners of Kennebec, 25 Maine R. 291, that…
2Cited by20 opinions
- Dombrowski v. PhiladelphiaSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1968
- Commonwealth ex rel. Attorney General v. MathuesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1904
- Pumphrey v. Mayor of BaltimoreCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1877
- Stegmaier v. JonesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1902
- Dorris v. Lloyd (No. 1)Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1953
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