Opinion
November 15, 1948.
January 14, 1949.
Municipalities — Boroughs — Incorporation — Order overruling demurrer to petition — Interlocutory orders — Appeals — Name of proposed borough — Discretion of court below — Appellate review — The General Borough Act.
1. An order overruling a demurrer to a petition for the incorporation of a borough is interlocutory and no appeal may be taken therefrom.
2. Section 209 of The General Borough Act of May 4, 1927, P.L. 519, as amended by the Act of June 10, 1947, P.L. 1621 (which provides that an appeal to the Superior Court may be had from any decree incorporating a borough by any person aggrieved thereby) does not provide for appeal from an interlocutory order.
3. The name to be adopted by a proposed borough is within the control and discretion of the court below, and the appellate court is limited to determining whether there has been an abuse of judicial discretion.
4. A decree of incorporation of a borough will not be set aside on appeal unless an abuse of discretion on the part of the court below is distinctly charged and clearly established.
Before RHODES, P.J., HIRT, RENO, DITHRICH, ROSS, ARNOLD and FINE, JJ.
Appeal, No. 227, April T., 1948, from order of Quarter Sessions, Allegheny Co., Jan. T., 1948, No. 53, in re Petition for the Incorporation of the Borough of Jefferson. Appeal quashed.
Proceeding upon petition of freeholders for incorporation of a borough.
Demurrer of exceptants to petition overruled, before SMART and ADAMS, JJ., opinion by ADAMS, J. Exceptant, Hays, appealed.
Alexander J. Bielski, for exceptant, appellant.
Leo Kostman, with him Irwin I. Tryon, for appellee.
Draza Musulin, for Borough of Jefferson, intervening appellee.
Argued November 15, 1948.
This is an appeal from an order of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Allegheny County overruling a demurrer to the petition for the incorporation of a borough.
Under the demurrer it was contended that the petition was fatally defective because (1) the proposed name of the new borough is "Borough of Jefferson," and that before the presentation of the petition there were one or more boroughs in Pennsylvania with the name "Borough of Jefferson"; and (2) that the description of the boundaries of the proposed borough is not correct or in conformity with law.
The order is interlocutory and the appeal will be quashed.
Section 209 of The General Borough Act of May 4, 1927, P.L. 519, as amended by the Act of July 10, 1947, P.L. 1621, § 1, 53 P. S. § 12259, provides that an appeal to the Superior Court may be had from any decree incorporating a borough by any person aggrieved thereby. No appeal is provided by the statute from an interlocutory order.
Moreover, the demurrer is a speaking demurrer, not being founded on the averments of the petition.
We may add that the name to be given the proposed borough is within the discretion of the court below. If evidence at the hearing discloses that inconvenience or confusion would result if the suggested name was approved, the court may act accordingly. In any event, the name adopted is within the control and discretion of the court below, and our review will be limited to determining whether there has been an abuse of judicial discretion. A decree of incorporation of a borough will not be set aside by this Court on appeal unless an abuse of discretion on the part of the court below is distinctly charged and clearly established. Pleasant Hills Borough Incorporation Case, 161 Pa. Super. 259, 261, 53 A.2d 882.
Appeal is quashed.