Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-16
THE QUAKERS TURN.
Philadelphia is Now Having Trouble
With the Supreme Court.
DECISION ON THE STREET LAWS.
The Present Practice Reversed and Forty
Juries Dismissed.
HOW DAMAGES ARE TO BE ASSESSED

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 15.-Under q re-
cent decision of the Supreme Court of Penn
sylvania, 35 road juries, which were sitting
to assess damages resulting from changes of
grades in streets Of this city, are dissolved
and all their labor and the result of their
investigations came to naught. The de-
cision referred to has the effect of abolish
ing the system by which damages in the
cases of changes of grade were fixed by road
juries, and indeed it abolishes the time
honored institutions of road jury ITSELF In
fact the entire method of ascertaining dam
ages inflicted upon property by changing
the grade of street has been revolution
lied.
According to the decision the Road Jury
system, which had prevailed as far back as
the memory of the oldest lawyer in the city
can trace, was illegal, and all such cases
should and will in the future be tried be-
fore Judge and an ordinary jury in the
Court Of Common Pleas.
HOW THE OLD SYSTEM WORKED.
Under the old system the road jury,
drawn to assess damages for a change of
grade, consisting of six men, would visit
the locality in which the change was to be
made, view the surrounding property and
then six and hear evidence of the owners
and experts as to how much the real estate
affected would be deprecated in value by
the proposed improvement, as well as what
Inconvenience the property owners would
suffer by it. This method, of course, per-
mitted one road jury of six men to deter
mine the damages in all the cases which
were affected by the same change of grade.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT CHANGE
The Supreme Courts mandate also works
another important change in the matter of
assessing damages in changes of grade Prior
to this decision it was customary as soon as
the Survey Department of the city perfected
its plans for changing the grade of street
for the property owners who would be
affected by the alteration to bring suit and
recover damages assessed by the road jury
at once. In other words, the money for
damages was frequently paid by the city
when the grade changes were still in con-
temptation, and before the work had actually
been done. It has happened that the city
has intended to change the grade of a high
way, made plans for doing SO, paid the
damages assessed, and subsequently circum-
stances have occurred which rendered the
proposed change inadvisable, and it was
abandoned
The new plan, which will have to be fol-
lowed in compliance with the Su-
preme Courts decision, compels each
property owner to bring separate suit for
damages, and each particular suit must be
tried in the Common Pleas in the same man.
ner as other civil suits are tried before
separate jury of 10 men. Thus, while six
men could under the old system have fixed
the damages in half dozen cases, it will
hereafter require 72 men to decide that
many suits, and then the chances of dis
agreements on the part OF jurors has to be
taken by the property owner and the city.
THE CHANGE MUST FIRST BE MADE.
All this is changed according to the Su-
preme Courts view of the law. Now no
action can be brought in the courts until
after the work is actually done and the
change of grade actually made.
A number of important cases involving
the raising and lowering of the grades Of
streets were pending before the 50 road
juries which are thrown into innocuous
desuetude by the decision. The decree also
affects cases which had already been decided
upon by the road juries, but in which the
city had not yet paid the money. Property
owners whose cases had been determined
and who were waiting for their cash will be
obliged to bring suit before they can get it.