Brocket v. Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Certiorari to the Common Pleas of Beaver county. An act of appropriation and description of the lands and tenements of Brocket, intended to be taken, was filed on the part of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Appraisers were appointed, whose report was set aside and new appraisers appointed.
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Certiorari to the Common Pleas of Beaver county. An act of appropriation and description of the lands and tenements of Brocket, intended to be taken, was filed on the part of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Appraisers were appointed, whose report was set aside and new appraisers appointed. They reported that they met, &e., and after being duly sworn, and after hearing the testimony, do appraise and assess the damages to the property of the defendant (Brocket) at $500, and benefits none. The proceeding was had under the ninth section of the Ohio act, chartering the company. The act…
1Opinion of the Court
*243The opinion of the court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
— This is a question not of power, but of intention. The constitution subjects all private property without distinction to public use; and a dwelling-house may be taken for it as legitimately as a forest or a field. Had not the Pea Patch Island in the Delaware been previously purchased by the United States, it might have been adversely taken for the site of the present fortress, and the buildings on it might have been demolished. Houses a,re often taken down to make way for streets; and in this city, two thoroughfares have been opened…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Beaver Borough v. Cleveland & Pittsburgh R. R., Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Beaver County1925
- Egan v. City of PhiladelphiaPennylvania Municipal Court, Philadelphia County · 1933
- Strine v. York CountySuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1914