Woods's Appeal
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Appeal from the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny county: In Equity : No. 37, to October and November Term 1874. On the 2d of December 1873, Robert Woods and Reese Owens filed a bill against Matthew S. Quay, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, John H. Hare, sheriff of Allegheny county, James G. Murray, and others, commissioners of Allegheny county.
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Appeal from the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny county: In Equity : No. 37, to October and November Term 1874. On the 2d of December 1873, Robert Woods and Reese Owens filed a bill against Matthew S. Quay, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, John H. Hare, sheriff of Allegheny county, James G. Murray, and others, commissioners of Allegheny county. The bill set forth that the plaintiffs were citizens and tax-payers of Allegheny county, and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; it also set forth the Act of June 2d 1871, authorizing a vote for the call of a convention, and that a…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered, November 2d 1874, by
Agnew, C. J.
The change made by the people in their political *69institutions, by the adoption of the proposed Constitution since this decree, forbids an inquiry into the merits of this case. The question is no longer judicial, but in affirming the decree we must not seem to sanction any doctrine in the opinion, dangerous to the liberties of the people. The claim for absolute sovereignty in the convention, apparently sustained in the opinion, is of such magnitude and overwhelming importance to the people themselves, it cannot be passed…
2Cited by12 opinions
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