Commonwealth v. Bertolette

101 Pa. Super. 334, 1931 Pa. Super. LEXIS 327

• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: March 10, 1931
• Docket: Appeals 84 and 85
• Status: Published

Opinion

Per Curiam,

The defendant was summarily convicted before a justice of the peace under the Act of April 7, 1927, P. L. 154, of violating Section 1 of Article III of the Pules and Eegulations of the State Department of Health, approved April 4, 1923. That section of the rules provides as follows:

“No garbage, offal, pomace, dead animals, decaying matter or organic waste substance of any kind shall be thrown or deposited in any ravine, ditch, or gutter, on any street or highway; into any waters of the State, or be permitted to remain exposed upon the surface of the ground.”

The court of quarter sessions allowed an appeal and the case was submitted to the court without a jury on the testimony taken before the justice óf the peace. The court entered a judgment of not guilty on'the sole ground that the-rule was unreasonable'and therefore void because it exceeded the authority of the Department of Health. The Commonwealth appealed.

In Commonwealth v. Benson, 94 Pa. Superior Ct. 10, we held that an entry of judgment of not guilty by the court of quarter sessions ó¿ an appeal from a summary conviction by a justice is an end of the case and that no appeal lies. The anthorities upon the subject were there reviewed by our Brother Keller. See also, Com. v. Ahlgrim, 98 Pa. Superior Ct. 595.

The appeal is quashed.

A similar order is entered in Commonwealth v. Abernathy, No. 84, October Term, 1931.