Case Name: HOPPLE vs. HUTCHINSON
Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Decision Date: 1885-02-02
Citations: 4 Walk. 366
Docket Number: No. 428
Parties: HOPPLE vs. HUTCHINSON
Judges: 
Reporter: Reports of cases decided by the supreme court of pennsylvania which have been omitted from the regular reports
Volume: 4
Pages: 366–367

Head Matter:
HOPPLE vs. HUTCHINSON
A man who purchased a property before June 12th, 1878, on which there is a ground rent, is personally liable for the rent during his ownership.
Error to Common Pleas No. 1, of Philadelphia County. No. 428 January Term, 1884.
On January 18, 1877, Wm. G. Roberts conveyed a certain lot of ground to Wm. Hoppell, Jr.
This suit was brought by Robert B. Hutchinson against Wm. Hopple, Jr., to recover six months’ ground rent accruing from January 1st to July 1st, 1882, from the aforesaid lot. Hopple entered pleas that there was no personal liability on his part, since the Act of June 12, 1878, P. Laws, 205. Plaintiff demurred and the Court sustained the demurrer, and entered judgment against defendant, Hopple, who thereupon took this writ of error to the Supreme Court.
W. J. Budd, Esq., for plaintiff in error,
cited the Act of June 12th, 1878, P. Laws 205 ; Fowler vs. Chatterton, 6 Bingham, 258; Evans vs. Montgomery, 4 W. & S., 218; McFarland vs. Commissioners, 12 S. & R., 297; Foster vs. Gray, 22 Pa., 1; Bambaugh vs. Bambaugh, 11 S. & R., 191; Wallace vs. Harmstad, 44 Pa. 492.
Wm. H. Lex, Esq., contra,
argued that the deed to Hopple was made before the Act of 1878, which is not retrospective; Smith vs. Conrad, 11 W. N. C., 101; Merriman vs. Moore, 90 Pa., 78; Taggart vs. McGinn, 14 Pa., 155; Weidner vs. Foster, 2 Penrose & W., 23; Berry vs. McMullen, 17 S. & R., 87; Hannen vs. Ewalt, 18 Pa., 11; Miller vs. Kern, 7 W. N. C. -504.

Opinion:
- The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Common Pleas on February 2nd, 1885, in the following opinion :
Per Curiam.
The rights of the plaintiff below and the liability of the •other party were fixed before the passage of the Act of June 12th, 1878, P. Laws, 205. As this Act is not retrospective, Merriman vs. Moore, 90 Pa., 78, it has no effect on the present case. It matters not that the rent in question accrued after-wards ; the vested right on which it rests, existed before, and it was not impaired.
Judgment affirmed.