Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad v. Shipley

19 A. 1, 72 Md. 88, 1890 Md. LEXIS 5
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedFebruary 7, 1890
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 19 A. 1 (Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad v. Shipley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad v. Shipley, 19 A. 1, 72 Md. 88, 1890 Md. LEXIS 5 (Md. 1890).

Opinion

Fowler, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an action of assumpsit brought by the appellee, William H. Shipiley, examiner, against the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, the appellant, to recover an assessment claimed to be due under certain proceedings had before the county commissioners of Baltimore County, by virtue of chapter 399 of the Acts of 1816, and the amendments thereto, constituting Avhat is known as the “Street Law” of said county. Inasmuch as the sufficiency of the declaration is questioned, it will be necessary to set it forth somewhat fully. It alleges the filing of the petition by certain persons, owning a majority of front feet, to have the proposed thoroughfare duly condemned, opened, graded, and constructed as provided by said Act of 1816; that the said plaintiff, Shipley, was duly appointed [91]*91examiner for such, purposes; that the ten days notice required by said Act was duly given by inserting the same, hoth in the Maryland Journal, a newspaper published at Towsontown, and in the Baltimore Sun, on the 1th February, 1888. This notice is set forth in the narr. and states that the oath required has been taken.

The declaration further alleges that, after having complied with all the requirements of said Act of 1816, the said examiner gave the other two notices, as follows: That the second notice was published in the Baltimore Daily News February 23rd, and March 2nd, 1889, and in the Baltimore County Democrat, published at Towsontown, on the 23rd of February, 1889; and that the third and last notice was inserted once a week, for three successive weeks, in both the Baltimore Evening News and the Baltimore County Democrat.

Both of these notices, like the first, are incorporated in the narr.

It is further alleged that no appeal was taken within the time allowed by said Act, and that the commissioners of said county thereupon duly ratified the said statement, and that all the proceedings taken by said examiner and by said commissioners were in strict conformity with the provisions of said Act and its-amendments; that the assessment made against the defendant was §1500, and the amount allowed for damages was one dollar; that after the final ratification of said statement by the said commissioners the plaintiff made due demand for the difference between the amount so assessed for benefits on the defendant, and the amount allowed for damages, and that the defendant refused to pay the same.

To this declaration the defendant pleaded one plea, which alleges that after the final ratification on the 29th of May, 1889, of said statement by the county commissioners, a petition was filed with them by a large uum[92]*92ber of persons; and that upon hearing said petition the said county commissioners jjassed an order, and that the effect of said order was to rescind and revoke the order of ratification passed by said commissioners, and that the plaintiff is not entitled to maintain this action.

' Both the petition and order above mentioned are set out in full in said plea.

To this plea the plaintiff demurred, and the Court below sustained the demurrer, and entered judgment joro forma in favor of the plaintiff for the amount of the assessment claimed to be due.

The demurrer calls in question the sufficiency of the declaration, as well as that of the plea to which it was interposed.

Eirst, then, in regard to the declaration. It is assailed on several grounds, but from the view we entertain, we think it necessary to consider only two of them; namely,—

First, whether the allegations of the declaration show that the. plaintiff complied with the provisions of the Act in regard to giving notices; and

Second, whether under the declaration as it stands, and without considering the agreements of counsel filed in this Court, any right of action whatever has accrued.

The notices required to be given by the Act under which this suit is brought are three in number: — first, (using the words of the Act) " the examiner shall give at least ten days notice by publication in one or more newspapers published in Baltimore County, ancj. one newspaper of general circulation published in Baltimore City," that application has been made to open said street; second, he "shall give fifteen days notice in one or more newspapers published in Baltimore County, and one or more newspapers published in Baltimore City, that said statement, plat, &c., are ready for examination.” and that he will meet at such time and place as [93]*93may be designated in said notice to hear objections to said statement, plats, &c.; and third, he is required “to notify all persons interested, by an advertisement, to be inserted once a week for three successive weeks, in one or more newspapers in Baltimore County, and in one or more newspapers of general circulation, published in Baltimore City, that said statement, plat, &c., have been deposited with the county commissioners."

We think that when the declaration is tested by these statutory provisions, it clearly appears by its allegations that the plaintiff did all that he was required to do in giving notices. In the case of the Mayor, &c. of Baltimore vs. The Little Sisters of the Poor, 56 Md., 405, the Court in construing a statute requiring that “at least sixty days notice shall be given" said: “It is clear that the statute does not require a daily publication for sixty days in two newspapers, nor does it specify any number of times for the publication."

And in the case of the Central Savings Bank vs. Mayor, &c. of Baltimore, 71 Md., 517, involving the validity of the proceedings for opening Douglass street in Baltimore City, Judge Bryan delivering the opinion of the Court says: “The Act of Assembly expressly requires that before any ordinance shall be passed for opening * * * a street in the City of Baltimore, sixty days notice.of an application for its passage shall be given in two of the daily newspapers in the city. * * * The statute does not direct that the notice shall be published any specified number of times; it merely requires that it shall be given. A notice may be given once, twice or a dozen times, * * * but it is difficult to infer that it must be repeated from the mere requirement that it shall be given. ’'

And in this case we think the one publication in each of the two papers mentioned was enough to gratify the statutory requirement.

[94]*94It is true, as urged by the appellee, that the first notice could have been published twice within the ten days in a Baltimore County weekly paper, and much oftener in a daily paper in Baltimore Oity. But, as we have said, the statute requires only one publication of this notice in each of the two papers, and having complied with the law in that res’pect, it was entirely in the discretion of the examiner whether any additional publications should be made, or any further expense incurred thereby.

The allegations of the declaration in regard to the other notices appear tobe equally free from objection.'

It was suggested at the argument that the plaintiff’s demurrer to the plea admits that the first notice was not given in the manner required by law, because the petition set forth in said plea contains an allegation to that effect. But we cannot accept this view.

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Bluebook (online)
19 A. 1, 72 Md. 88, 1890 Md. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/philadelphia-wilmington-baltimore-railroad-v-shipley-md-1890.