Court Opinion

ID: 9757346
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:34:55.11963+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:38.436386
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Cohen:
I disagree with the majority opinion for several reasons. First and foremost, I believe that my colleagues have entirely disregarded the very nature of sovereign power. It is settled law in Pennsylvania that, “The power of eminent domain is an attribute of sovereignty, and every private owner holds his property subject to the right of the sovereign to take the same, or such part of it as may be required to serve the public use.” Philadelphia Olay Company v. York Clay Company, 241 Pa. 305, 308-9, 88 Atl. 487 (1913). This being so, I would find that the Act of 1849 does not apply to the Commonwealth, for I see neither express statutory language nor necessary implication leading to that result. Accordingly, I would agree with the court below that the Act of 1849 does not bar the Commonwealth from exercising the power of eminent domain where cemetery lands are concerned.
However, assuming for the sake of argument that pursuant to the 1849 legislation, the Commonwealth was precluded from condemning burial ground, I would encounter no difficulty in determining that that statute has no effect in the instant litigation. No legislature can bind itself or its successors not to exercise the *600sovereign power to take private property for public use, and that power cannot be surrendered, alienated or contracted away. Contributors to the Pennsylvania Hospital v. City of Philadelphia, 245 U. S. 20 (1917). In the instant matter, granting that the Act of 1849 was intended to apply to the Commonwealth, by the enactment of the Act of June 1, 1945, P. L. 1242, §210, 86 P.S. §670-210, the General Assembly has indicated that as regards cemetery land, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania can exercise eminent domain. The 1945 statute authorizes the Secretary of Highways, with approval of the Governor, to change, alter or establish the width, lines, location or grades of any state highway or intersecting road in any township, borough or incorporated town in order to correct danger or inconvenience, or lessen the cost to the Commonwealth in the construction, reconstruction or maintenance thereof, and to condemn an easement for highway purposes from all property required therefor. As authorized by this legislation, the Declaration of Taking was filed in accordance with the Act of June 22, 1964, P. L. 84, Art. IV, §402, 26 P.S. §1-402 (Supp. 1965). The Act of 1945 provides for the condemnation of all required property, with no exceptions. Since the power of eminent domain is inalienable and since no legislature can bind itself or its successors not to exercise it, any legislative enactment that purports to limit the exercise of the power of eminent domain is invalid. 26 Am. Jur. 2d Eminent Domain §2. Accordingly, the 1945 General Assembly was free to pass legislation authorizing condemnation by the Commonwealth of all land privately owned in Pennsylvania. This having been done, there is no problem of statutory construction whereby the later act must be read against the earlier. The only statute pertinent here is the Act of 1945. Because that act, in and of itself, is broad enough to permit the taking of cemetery lands for the purposes stated there*601in, the Declaration of Taking here involved is a valid exercise of the Commonwealth’s power of eminent domain, and no prior law is effective to alter that result.
As I view this matter, the right of the Commonwealth to exercise its eminent domain power over cemetery lands was never impinged upon by the Act of 1849. In fact, our official reports bear witness to the fact that the Commonwealth and agencies acting on its behalf, such as the Turnpike Commission and Department of Highways, have condemned burial grounds for highway construction with no objection raised by competent counsel that the Act of 1849 barred the taking. See Lakewood Memorial Cardens, Ine. Appeal, 381 Pa. 46, 112 A. 2d 135 (1955) ; Hinnershitz Cemetery Go. v. Miller, 37 Pa. D. & C. 571 (Berks Co. 1939).