ANNOTATIONS.

REPEAL

REPEALING EFFECT OF ACT.

The act of April 21, 1854, imposing a State tax on the capital stock of certain corporations was repealed by this act.

Commonwealth v. Alliance Coal & Min. Co., 16 Phila. Rep. 574, p. 575; 40 Leg. Intell. 280.

LEASE BY GUARDIAN.

LAWS 1869, P. 409.

MARCH 18, 1869.

AN ACT to empower guardians to lease the mineral lands of their wards in Mercer County.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That the orphans' court of the county of Mercer shall have power, on the application of the guardian of any minor or minors owning minerals within said county, to authorize said guardian to lease said mineral lands on such terms and conditions, and for such rental or royalty per ton or otherwise as shall appear just and equitable to said court, and with the same force and effect as though said lease were made by a person of full age: Provided, That said guardian shall first file his bond in said court in such sum and with such surety or sureties as shall be approved by said court, conditioned for the faithful application and payment by him of all rental or royalty to be received under said lease.

PARTITION.

LAWS 1870, P. 256.

FEBRUARY 26, 1870.

AN ACT relative to partition of mineral lands in the county of Luzerne.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That in the case of partition of real estate in the county of Luzerne, either in the orphans' court or in the court of common pleas, whenever the lands of which partition is sought to be effected or made by petition to the orphans' court, by writ of partition in common pleas or by bill in common pleas in equity, or by other process now or which hereafter may be established by law, are or may reasonably be supposed to be lands containing coal or other minerals, promising a mine, mineral or quarrying value, as well as and in addition to a surface use and value, the proper court having jurisdiction thereof is empowered whenever it shall to the said court appear advisable and proper, and the inquest summoned by the sheriff of said county or the master in chancery, seven men appointed by the court, as now provided by law, to divide or appraise, or to divide and appraise lands of the character above referred to, shall be of the opinion, and shall so find and certify, that partition can not be made of the coal or other minerals beneath the surface without prejudice to or impairing the value of such mineral interest to, cause partition or valuation, or partition and valuation, to be made of the surface of said lands and to permit the coal and other minerals and mining rights, with such quantity of surface as shall be necessary for the proper use, development and enjoyment of said coal and other minerals, to remain undivided for the persons entitled thereto and subject to future partition and appraisement, or future appraisement to and among the persons thereunto entitled, in the same manner, in the same courts, and upon the like application and process as if the said coal and

other minerals and mining rights and quantity of surface necessary for development as aforesaid were the sole and only property of the parties by and for whom partition was sought to be effected; and the inquest or seven men or master, in the reports, shall designate by metes and bounds the quantity and location of surface by them or him deemed necessary and set apart for the use, development and enjoyment of said coal and other minerals and mining rights and make and return a draft thereof, together with a valuation of said surface thus set apart; and in every case where there may be a widow or a surviving husband or a surviving parent or parents entitled by law to an estate or interest in said coal or other minerals, the said inquest or seven men or master, as the case may be, shall, with the partition and valuation or partition or valuation of the surface as aforesaid, make and return the valuation of the said mineral interest: Provided, That in proceedings under this act any party in interest may except to anything in the petition, report and other proceedings alleging or reporting any interest, or to a failure therein to allege or report any interest in law of any widow or surviving husband or surviving parents or parent in said minerals and mineral rights, and the proper court upon hearing of such exceptions shall have power to examine and decide upon the interest and estate of such widow or surviving husband or surviving parent or parents, and may grant an issue and issues to the court of common pleas to try any disputed question or questions of fact as in other cases: And provided further, That writs of error and appeals to the supreme court from the judgment or decree of the court of common pleas or the orphans' court shall be allowed as in other cases.

SEC. 2. The choice and allotment of shares and purparts, the payment and securing of outlay and obtaining of possession of surface in the cases of partition as provided in this act, shall be in the same manner as provided by law in other cases of partition.

INTERESTS PROTECTED—SUPPLEMENT (1). LAWS 1871, P. 1088.

MAY 24, 1871.

A SUPPLEMENT to an act entitled “An act relative to partition of mineral land in the county of Luzerne," approved the 26th day of February, A. D. 1870.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That the act relative to partition of mineral lands in the county of Luzerne, approved February 26, 1870, shall not be construed to diminish or in any manner impair the rights or interests of any widow, husband or surviving parent, in any mineral lands in said county as they existed at the passage of the said act. PARTITION-UNEQUAL INTEREST-SUPPLEMENT (2).

LAWS 1874, P. 156.

MAY, 14, 1874.

A FURTHER SUPPLEMENT to an act relative to suits in dower and partition, ap. proved the 20th day of February, A. D. 1854, and its supplement, approved the 30th day of March, A. D. 1869, construing said act and extending jurisdiction of the courts therein.

NOTE-Neither the original act nor the first supplementary Act of March 30, 1869 (Laws 1869, p. 15) has anything to do with coal lands or other mineral lands and is not given.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

SEC. 3. That partition may be made under existing laws of lands and coal rights thereon, and of lands and timber rights thereon, whether the rights of all of the parties be coextensive with the whole or not, and whether the rights of some of them extend only to the land and part of the coal thereon, or only to the land and part of the timber thereon. (Amended. See following act.)

ANNOTATIONS.

PARTITION.

PARTITION OF MINERAL LANDS.

A tenant in common has an absolute and unconditionable right to partition in some form.

Robbins v. Penn Gas Co., 28 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 49, p. 51.

Tenants in common may have partition of a coal stratum where they have conveyed their interest in the surface to a cotenant and excepted the particular stratum of coal.

Robbins v. Penn Gas Co., 28 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 49, p. 51.

The difficulty or hardship incident to the executing of a judgment of partition of a coal stratum only will not justify the denial of the right to partition. Robbins v. Penn Gas Co., 28 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 49, p. 52.

PARTITION OF COAL LANDS-AMENDMENT.

LAWS 1915, P. 269.

MAY 6, 1915.

AN ACT to amend section 3 of an act approved May 14, 1874, entitled "A further supplement to an act, etc. (same as in sec. 1) by extending the provisions thereof to include persons having an undivided interest in the land, or in the coal or timber thereon. when the same has not been entirely severed, and permitting such persons to compel partition of the entire tract."

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That sec. 3 of an act, approved May 14, 1874, entitled "A further supplement to an act relative to suits in dower and partition, approved February 20, 1854, and its supplement, approved March 30, 1869, construing said act and extending Jurisdiction of the courts therein," which reads as follows: (here follows sec. 8 of the act of 1874), be and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: SEC. 3. That partition may be made under existing laws of lands and coal rights thereon, and of lands and timber rights thereon, whether the rights of all of the parties be coextensive with the whole or not; and whether the rights of some of them extend only to the lands and part of coal thereon, or only to the land and part of the timber thereon, or only to an undivided interest in the land, or in the coal or in the timber thereon; and any person having an interest as herein set forth may compel partition of the entire tract of land and coal, or land and timber; provided said coal or said timber has not been entirely severed so as to constitute a separate estate.

NOTICE TRESPASS.

LAWS 1905, P. 169.

APRIL 14, 1905. AN ACT making it unlawful to trespass upon land posted as private property and providing the penalty therefor.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That from and after the passage of this act, it shall be unlawful for any person willfully to enter upon any land, within the limits of this Commonwealth, where the owner or owners of said land has caused to be prominently posted upon sald land printed notices that the said land is private property, and warning all persons from trespassing thereon, under the penalties provided in this act.

SEC. 2. Every person violating the provisions of this act shall be liable to a penalty of not exceeding ten dollars.

SEC. 3. All penalties recovered under this act shall be paid to the school fund of the district in which the trespass was committed.

ANNOTATIONS.

TRESPASS.

NOTICE-LIABILITY.

A coal-mining company owned a large tract of land on which were located a large number of dwelling houses occupied exclusively by the employees of the company in the conduct of its business of mining coal and manufacturing coke. Private ways and roads were laid out for the use of the mining company and its employees. The company posted on its premises the notice required by this act making it unlawful for any one to enter upon land where such a notice was posted. A storekeeper violated the act and was subject to criminal prosecution thereunder where he entered upon the premises without permission or authority to collect bills and store accounts from employees of the coal company who had purchased goods at his store.

Commonwealth v. Lapenti, 16 Pa. Dist. Rep. 403, p. 406.

MINERS' ASYLUM-INCORPORATION.

MINERS' ASYLUM INCORPORATED (SCHUYLKILL COUNTY).

LAWS 1854, P. 318.

APRIL 11, 1854.

AN ACT to incorporate the Schuylkill County Miners' Asylum.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.:

That (certain named persons), and their associates and successors, be and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate in deed and in law by the name, style, and title of the Schuylkill Miners' Asylum, * * * to take, hold, and enjoy lands, tenements and hereditaments, goods, chattels or choses in action, to have, take, and receive bequests, devises, gratuities, and endowments in cash, and other property real and personal, and the same to invest, reinvest, sell, alien and dispose of in such manner as the said corporation may deem most expedient and conducive to the interests of the same: Provided, That the clear yearly rents and profits of the real estate to be held by said corporation, shall not exceed in value the sum of fifty thousand dollars.

SEC. 2. That the business affairs and management of said corporation shall be conducted by a board of seven trustees, who shall consist of the persons named in the preceding section, until the first Monday in May, 1855, when and annually thereafter, a new board shall be elected by the members of said corporation, duly qualified in the manner that shall be prescribed by the by-laws; in case of any vacancy occurring in said board of trustees by death, resignation or otherwise, the remaining trustees shall have authority to fill the same until the next regular annual election.

SEC. 3. That the said board of trustees shall upon their organization and after each election, choose from their number a president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary.

SEC. 4. That the essential objects of said corporation shall be the relief and support during illness of all miners, laborers, and others, in the county of Schuylkill, mained, sick, or disabled by any cause not the result of any vicious indulgence, who shall be entitled to the benefits of said corporation by complying with the conditions prescribed by the by-laws.

SEC. 5. That it shall and may be lawful for said corporation to provide for a system of membership, entitling such members or any member of others provided for by them, to the benefits, relief and support of as aforesaid of said corpora tion, upon such terms, conditions and regulations as said corporation may from time to time establish and ordain.

SEC. 6. That it shall and may be lawful for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, and the president, managers and company of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, to contribute and pay to sald corporation toward the essential objects of the same, one mill per ton on each ton of coal transported over any portion of the works of said companies, and that it shall and may be lawful for said companies to increase the rates of toll which they are now by law respectfully authorized to charge, to an amount equal to the sum contributed and paid as aforesaid.

SEC. 7. That no misnomer of said corporation and their successors, shall defeat or annul any gift, grant, devise or bequest to or for the same.