Commonwealth v. Bowman & Duncan
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Writ of error to Quarter Sessions of Bedford county'. June 11. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, plaintiff in error and plaintiff below, against George W. Bowman and Joseph W. Duncan.
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Writ of error to Quarter Sessions of Bedford county'. June 11. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, plaintiff in error and plaintiff below, against George W. Bowman and Joseph W. Duncan. The defendants were indicted: “ that for a long time ago, before and until the time of the,obstruction and nuisance hereinafter mentioned, there was, and still of right ought to be, a certain common and public highway, in the borough of Bedford and county aforesaid, commonly called and well known by the name of the public and great square of said borough, for all good citizens of this Commonwealth, to go,…
1Opinion of the CourtGibson, C. J.
To allow the county reasonable accommodation for its court-house and offices in the great square of the county town, is one of the usages of our state, which has acquired the consistence of lawl Such is the foundation of the county’s right, and the extent of it; for it certainly has no inherent right to property which has been dedicated, not to its use, but to the use of all the citizens of the Commonwealth. It was a similar usage which, in Piper v. Singer, 4 Serg. and Rawle, 354, exempted the courthouse of Westmoreland county from taxation for borough purposes, though built on a town lot in…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Rung v. ShonebergerSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1833
3Cited by5 opinions
- HOFFMAN v. PITTSBURGHSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1950
- Commonwealth v. MooreheadSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1888
- Versailles Township Authority v. McKeesportSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1952
- Headley v. City of NorthfieldSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1949
- Mahon v. Luzerne CountySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1900