Legal Opinion

Giffen v. St. Clair Township

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Decided September 15, 1842Published

ERROR to the Common Pleas of Allegheny county. This suit originated before a justice of the peace, and was brought in the name of Andrew Giffen against William Kerr and H. Hulse, overseers of the poor of Upper St. Clair Township. From the judgment of the justice the defendants appealed to the Court of Common Pleas, where the plaintiff declared against the Township of Upper St. Clair, a body corporate.

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ERROR to the Common Pleas of Allegheny county. This suit originated before a justice of the peace, and was brought in the name of Andrew Giffen against William Kerr and H. Hulse, overseers of the poor of Upper St. Clair Township. From the judgment of the justice the defendants appealed to the Court of Common Pleas, where the plaintiff declared against the Township of Upper St. Clair, a body corporate. The defendants demurred to the declaration, and assigned for cause “that the declaration filed is against the Township of Upper St. Clair, a body corporate in said county, and not against…

1Per curiam

— Caldwell v. Thompson, (1 Rawle 360); Lyon v. Chalker, (2 Watts 14); and Graham v. Vandalore, (Ib. 131); are cases which originated before a justice of the peace, and in which the names of parties were transposed or changed to adapt the merits to legal form. What more was there to do here ? The defendant was sued, as a township, by the names and title of its overseers; and the counsel repaired the error of the justice in declaring against the township by its corporate name. It was the ordinary case of a misnomer corrected in the appellate court; and the rule of the decisions quoted, amply…

2Cases cited1 opinion

  1. Lyon v. ChalkerSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1833

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