General Borough Art APRIL 3, 1851, P. L. 320. And Amendments and Other Important Acts and Selections from the Constitution. [ANNOTATED] AN ACT Regulating Boroughs. 21 Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That every borough within this Commonwealth that hereafter may be incorporated by an act of the General Assembly, or by the Court of Quarter Sessions of any county, shall have power. 22 I. To have succession by its corporate name perpetually. 23 II. To sue and be sued, to complain and defend in all courts of record and elsewhere. 24 (Suit to recover a penalty under ordinance should be in the corporate name of the borough.-1 J. L. R. 16, 1 M. L. R. 77. 25 III. To make and use a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure. 26 IV. To hold, purchase, and convey such real and personal estate as the purposes of the borough shall require, not exceeding the amount limited in its charter. Powers to Corporate Officers. 27 Section 2. The powers of the corporation shall be vested in the corporate officers designated in the charter. They shall have power: 28 (These powers cannot be delegated and no special leg" islation enacted.) 15 Montg. Co. 9, 25 C. C. 471, 148 Pa. 87. 29 I. To make such laws, ordinances, by-laws, and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of this Commonwealth as they shall deem necessary for the good order and government of the borough. 30 (Ordinances must be reasonable and upon the subjects authorized by law.) 123 Pa. 151. 31 II. To survey, lay out, enact, ordain such roads, streets, lanes, alleys, courts and common sewers as they may deem necessary, and to provide for, enact and ordain the widening and straightening of the same. 32 (The same should be done by ordinance.) 18 C. C. 289. 33 III. To prohibit the erection or the construction of any building or work, excavation or other obstruction, to the opening, widening, straightening and convenient use thereof. 34 (By act of June 6, 1893, turnpike companies cannot erect toll houses in a borough.) 35 IV. To regulate the streets, roads, lanes, alleys, courts, common sewers, public squares, common grounds, foot-walks, pavements, gutters, culverts, and drains, and the heights, grades, widths, slopes and forms thereof; and they shall have all other needful jurisdiction over the same. 36 Amended by Act 1883, P. L. 39, and Act 1901, P. L. 299, by adding: "And they shall have power to survey, lay out, enact, and ordain foot-walks, pavements, gutters, culverts, and drains, over and upon the lands abutting on and along the sides of turnpike roads which may be within the limits of said borough; and over and upon lands, abutting on and along the side or sides of public roads, where the said roads are outside the limits of said boroughs, and the lands over and upon which said sidewalks, pavements, gutters, culverts and drains are to be surveyed, laid out, enacted and ordained, are inside the limits of the said boroughs; and to fix the size and width thereof, and to require the grading, curbing and guttering thereof, by the owner or owners of the land respectively fronting thereon, in accordance with the general regulations prescribed." 37 Both footways and roadways are within the control of the borough, and ordinances may provide where trees shall be planted, telegraph poles and hitching posts set, passenger railroads built, etc. 136 Pa. 519. 38 A borough cannot require the relaying of a side walk laid under its authority, or accepted by it, unless it is out of repair. 9 Del. Co. 297, S. C. 18 York, 65. 39 V. To require and direct the grading, curbing, paving and guttering of the side- or foot-walks, by the owner or owners of the lots of ground respectively fronting thereon, in accordance with the general regulations prescribed. 40 VI. To cause the same to be done on failure of the owners thereof, within the time prescribed by the general regulations, and to collect the cost of the work and materials, with twenty per centum advance thereon, from said owners, as claims are by law recoverable under the provisions of the law relative to mechanics' liens; and the particulars of such labor and materials; the name or names of the actual or reputed owner or owners, as also of the occupier or occupiers of the premises for the time being, shall be set forth in a statement to be filed within thirty days after such expense shall have been incurred. 41 (This paragraph is repealed by Act June 4, 1901, P. L. 364, and amendments. This act is the comprehensive Municipal Lien Law for the collection of taxes, municipal improvements, removal of nuisances, etc., repealing over two hundred special and general acts, and all other acts covering the same subject matter.) 42 The following pertain to the subject matter of this paragraph 43 Act of 1901, P. L. 573.--"Section 1. That the town council of the several boroughs of this State may, in their discretion, pay a portion of the cost and expense of grading and curbing sidewalks." 44 Act of May 24, 1901, P. L. 297.-"Section 1. All notices to build or repair sidewalks in any borough of this Commonwealth, issued by the borough authorities under their regulations, shall be served upon the owner of the premises to which such notice refers, if said owner be a resident of the borough. If said owner is not such resident, then said notice may be served on the agent or tenant of said owner or upon the occupant of said premises. If said owner have no agent or tenant, or there be no occupier of said premises, then by printed or written notice tacked upon the premises." 45 Act of 1905, P. L., 235.-"Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That all boroughs are hereby authorized and empowered to direct and require the grading, paving, repaving and repairing of all sidewalks on the streets of the borough, and the constructing and repairing of curbs and gutters at the edge of the sidewalks, by the owner or owners of the lot or lots of ground fronting thereon, in accordance with the general borough regulations. 46 "Section 2. On the neglect or refusal of the owner or owners of the lot or lots, as aforesaid, to comply with such requirements and directions, the officers of the borough may cause the grading, paving, repaving, repairing, curbing, recurbing, guttering and reguttering, as aforesaid, to be done at the cost of such owner or owners of the lot or lots, and may collect the cost thereof and ten per centum additional, together with all charges and expenses, from such owner or owners, and may file a municipal lien therefor against such lot or lots." 47 Act of 1909, P. L. 78, amends Act of April 4, 1907, so as to read as follows:-"That hereafter all municipalities of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania may proceed for the recovery of any municipal claim or claims, whatsoever, by lien or by action of assumpsit; and authority is hereby conferred upon justices of the peace to entertain such actions of assumpsit, to the limits of their jurisdiction. 48 "Section 2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed." 49 The act of April 4, 1907, is not retroactive: Barnesboro v. Specie, also, Lampman, 40, Superior Court, 609 and 614. 50 From the judgment of a municipal officer as to whether a sidewalk should be repaired, and the character of the repairs and the time at which they should be made, there is no appeal to the courts. Such questions are exclusively for the municipality. 48 Pitts. L. J., 112. 51 A borough cannot require property owners to pay for the repaving or repairing of streets. 128 Pa. 147, and 138 Pa. 533; but can require the relaying and repairing of sidewalks. 120 Pa. 357 and 130 Pa. 335. 52 Boroughs are required to keep side walks as well as streets in safe condition, and are, in the absence of contributory negligence, responsible to passengers for injuries caused them by the neglect to perform such duty. 106 Pa. 373. 53 Boroughs may ordain how much of a street shall be used for a carriage-way and how much for sidewalks. 54 They may ordain where trees, when planted in the streets, shall be placed, how hitching posts are to be set, telegraph poles erected, or passenger railways built. Savidge, 217. 55 The borough may determine the limitations upon the sidewalks of cellar doors, doorsteps, awnings and projecting windows, 136 Pa. 533. All this, however, must be done by general and uniform regulations, 100 Pa. 182, which are reasonable, and the question of reasonableness shall be determined by the court. 100 Pa. 368. 56 VII. To make all needful regulations respecting the foundations and party walls of buildings, and respecting vaults, cess-pools, sinks, drains, and partition fences. 57 By Act of 1885, P. L. 55, Boroughs may regulate the erection of wooden buildings within their limits. And by Act of 1907, P. L., 184. "Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That to prevent the spread of fires and to secure structural and sanitary safety of the buildings within its limits, every borough shall have power, by ordinance, to establish general regulations for the construction of new buildings and the repair of old ones; and to require that, before work begins, municipal |