Case ID: grant_3/html/0261-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "\n      Per curiam.•\n    ", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Greenwood Township.
    1. Under the thirteenth section of the act of 15th April, 1834, the court may divide a township into as many new townships as may suit the convenience of the inhabitants thereof.
    2. The act of'1857 is a supplement to the act of 1834, and is applicable as well to proceedings originating under the act of 1834, prior to the act of 1857, as to those commencing after its passage.
    Certiorari to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Juniata County.
    
    On the 5th day of February, 1857, a petition was presented to the court, signed by citizens of Greenwood township, in said county, stating “ that from its extent of territory it was inconvenient for all township purposes, and particularly for the convenience and accommodation of voters,” and praying “for a division, so as to make two new townships, the whole being divided into three,” according to designated lines. Upon this petition the court appointed commissioners “to inquire into the propriety of granting the prayer of the petitioners,” and to divide the saíne accordingly,- should they find occasion for so doing. The viewers met, pursuant to their appointment and the order of the court, and made, signed, and returned a report “ making three out of one, agreeably to the prayer of the petitioners,” and attached to the said report a plot or draft, with the courses and distances of the respective townships which were designated as Nos. 1,2, and 3, and also their names written thereon. This report was returned on the 30th of April, 1857, and the same day exceptions were filed and overruled, and the matter continued till next term. 12th September, 1857, continued till next' court, and a commissioner appointed to take depositions and report the facts. December 12th, 1857, the commissioner returned the depositions, and the court, the same day, “ ordered that a vote of the qualified electors of Greenwood township be taken on the question of a division of said township on the 15th day of January, 1858, to be held by the election officers of said township at the place fixed by law for holding township elections.” An election was held conformably to the order of court, and on the 19th of January, 1858, the returns were filed, showing a large majority for division. February 5th, 1858, exceptions were filed against a division as follows, to wit:—
    1. That the act of assembly does not authorize a township to be divided into three townships upon one commission.
    2. That the act of assembly does not authorize a vote to be taken on the question of a division of a township into three townships.
    3. That there is no authority vested in the court, or in the people, to divide a township by more than one division line at one time.
    
      4. That the notice of the election was not according to the act of assembly.
    5. That this proceeding to divide the township having been commenced before the act of 14th March, 1857, was passed, is not embraced within its provision, and the election was void.
    March 1, 1858, exceptions were overruled and the court “ ordered and decreed that the aforesaid township of Greenwood be divided into three separate townships agreeably to the lines marked out and returned by the commissioners appointed by the court,” and filed the following opinion:—
    “ Exceptions have been filed to these proceedings which are in substance: 1. That the court have no authority to divide a township into three townships. 2. That proceedings having been commenced before the 14th of March, 1857, that act is not applicable, and the vote ordered was unauthorized and void. ''
    “ (The 4th exception as to the ’ notice of election is abandoned.) The 13th section of the act of April 15, 1834, authorizes the Courts of Quarter Sessions, within their respective counties, to erect new townships, to divide any township already erected, and to alter lines of any two or more adjoining townships, so as to suit the convenience of the inhabitants thereof. To divide means ‘ to part into two or more pieces.’— "Webster’s Diet. The power of the court to divide cannot be limited to part into two pieces, by power of the language used in conferring the authority for it is just as applicable to parting into more than two pieces. But the authority of the court in erecting new townships, or dividing a township already erected, and altering the lines of two or more adjoining townships, is co-extensive with the ‘ convenience of the inhabitants' to be affected by sueh proceeding. We can readily conceive cases where the division of a township into three parts may be very convenient and desirable to all the inhabitants, but a division into two parts might be inconvenient and objectionable. Natural barriers, such as mountain ridges or streams of water, might greatly promote the convenience of the majority of the inhabitants by dividing into three parts, which could not be effected by dividing into two. In this case it appears the majority desired three townships to be erected. They petitioned for a division into three parts. The commissioners approved of and recommended such division, and a large majority of the electors have sanctioned, by their votes, the division recommended by the commissioners. We can discover nothing either in the spirit or language of the act to prevent the division asked for in this case.
    “The act of 1857 is a supplement to the act of 1834, and is applicable as well to proceedings originating under the act of 1834, prior to the act of 1857, as those commenced afterwards. The appointment of commissioners, view and report, must still be under the act of 1834, but in place of giving the court entire power and control over the report of the commissioners, to affirm, set aside, or refer it back to them, as might be done under the act of 1834, the act of 1857 provides, 1 that in proceedings to divide any township, it shall be the duty of the Court of Quarter Sessions, when a return has been made by commissioners appointed under the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement, favorable to a division, to order a vote of the qualified electors of said township to be taken on the question of a division thereof.’ The language is general, and applies as well to returns made by commissioners appointed before as after the act of 1857.
    “ The 4th section of the act of 1857 makes it imperative on the court to order and decree a division when a majority of v votes are for such division. We have therefore no option, no discretionary power, but to obey the mandate of the law, and thus give force and efficacy to the will of the majority.”
    To this ruling the following errors were assigned:—
    
      July 16, 1858.
    1. The court erred in entertaining the petition, as prayed for, for'want of jurisdiction.
    2. The court erred in ordering a vote to be taken on the question of a division of the township.
    3. The court erred in ordering and decreeing “that the aforesaid township of Greenwood be divided into three separate townships, agreeably to lines marked out and returned by the commissioners appointed by the court.”
    
      E. S. Doty and Jos. Casey, for appellants.
    -, for appellees.
   Opinion delivered

Per curiam.•

We affirm this decree for the reasons given by the learned Judge of the Quarter Sessions.

Judgment, affirmed.