Mount Moriah Cemetery Ass'n v. Commonwealth ex rel. Boileau
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, No. 3: No. 108, to January Term 1873. This was a mandamus by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on the relation of William EL Boileau and Margaret Jones, against the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association. The defendants were incorporated by Act of Assembly of March 27th 1855 (Pamph.
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Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, No. 3: No. 108, to January Term 1873. This was a mandamus by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on the relation of William EL Boileau and Margaret Jones, against the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association. The defendants were incorporated by Act of Assembly of March 27th 1855 (Pamph. L. of 1857, p. 729). The act incorporated a number of persons by name, and authorized them to increase the number of corporators from the lot-holders, so that the association should never be less than twenty nor more than one hundred, with power to ordain by-laws,…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Gordon
Beyond the merely technical objection urged against the decree of the court below, and which we regard as properly disposed of in the opinion of his honor Judge Ludlow, there is nothing whatever of merit in the defendants’ case.
When Boileau purchased the lot in question there was no restriction on his right of sepulture, and the managers of this com*246pany had no power afterwards to abridge such right by any unreasonable limitation thereon.
The right of interment was refused solely on the ground that the body was that of a colored man. The reason which induced this refusal, as well as the…
2Cited by5 opinions
- Hertle v. RiddellCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1907
- Brnilovich v. St. George Independent Serbian Orthodox Church of PittsburghSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1937
- Slifer v. Greenmount Cemetery Co.Superior Court of Pennsylvania · 1949
- Lichtenwalner's EstatePennsylvania Orphans' Court, Lehigh County · 1938
- Zeitlin Estate, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County1979