Opinion
01-01-1823
The Commonwealth v. The President, Directors & Company of the Swift Run Gap Turnpike Company
An Information, (founded on a previous Presentment of the Grand Jury,) was filed against the Defendants by their corporate name, for failing to keep their road in repair for the space of sixty days: it concluded against the form of the Act of Assembly, & c. The Defendants demurred generally to the Information, and there was a joinder in demurrer. The Judge of the Superior Court adjourned to this Court the question, whether such a Corporation as this, can be prosecuted, criminaliter, as in the Information is set forth.
OPINION
Holmes, J.
This is an Information, (founded on a Presentment of the Grand Jury in Orange Superior Court,) against the Defendants, by the name of the President, Directors and Company of the Swift Run Gap Turnpike Company, for not keeping their artificial road in repair for the space of sixty days, and claiming the penalty of twenty dollars for every ten days failure, amounting to $ 120, and concluding against the form of the Act of Assembly, & c. To this Information, there is a general demurrer. The Act incorporating this Company contains a provision, that when the road is out of repair for the space of ten days, and information thereof shall be given to a Justice of the Peace, he shall issue a Warrant, commanding a Constable to summon three freeholders to view the defective part of the road, of which notice shall be given to the person entrusted with the repair thereof; and if, on such enquiry, the road be found to be out of repair, the tolls shall cease at the nearest gate until it be repaired; and moreover, the person entrusted with the repair shall be subject to a fine of $ 20, to be recovered by Warrant before a Justice of the Peace.
Acts of 1809, ch. 50, § 11, p. 43-49.
The remedy given here, is not against the corporate body, but against the individual whom they employ to keep the road in repair; and, where a Statute creates an offence, and gives a specific remedy for its prosecution, such specific remedy must be followed. Therefore, the Court is of opinion, that no Information will lie against the Defendants on the Statute of incorporation, as set forth in the Information filed against them; which is to be certified to the Circuit Court of Orange county.