Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/110

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The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. properties in consequence of the noise, dis turbance, smoke, sparks, and vapors occa sioned by the operation of the road. Held, they could not recover. By the court : "The damage complained of results wholly from the manner in which the roadway is used. If this Pennsylvania Company has been guilty of a nuisance . . . the plaintiffs . . . have their remedy, but not for any thing short of this. Any other rule would lead to this remarkable result, that the plaintiffs would be entitled to damages with out having suffered any injury." Pennsylvania R. R. Co. v. Marchant, 21 W. N. C. 300. Case by E. D. Marchant to recover damages for the depreciation of plaintiff's property in consequence of the construction and operation of the railroad's elevated road opposite the plaintiff's prem ises. The facts are the same as in the preceding case, and the . same conclusion was reached. By the Court : " No prin ciple of law is better settled than that a man has the right to the lawful use and enjoyment of his own property. ... It is true this principle is qualified to a certain extent. A man may not carry on a business which poisons the air. . . . For manufac tories of various kinds, which involve noise and disturbance to neighbors, a man must seek a secluded place. . . . These excep tions are well established. . . . But they have no application to the case at hand." As has been seen by the article quoted from the State Constitution, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania now numbers seven. But they are overworked, and never likely to be less so in the growing stress of litiga tion. And a system that compels a court to live in trunks several months of the year can not be too much blamed. It seems to be more and more the plan in America to overload and underpay the most important public men. Mr. Chief-Justice Paxson succeeded Mr. Chief-Justice Gordon, whose term expired Jan. 7, 1889. The present Chief-Justice

  • as born Sept. 23, 1824, at Buckingham,

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89

Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was edu cated in the same neighborhood, at pri vate schools connected with the Society of Friends. He was admitted to the Bar at Doylestown, Pennsylvania, in May, 1850, having studied law with the Hon. Henry Chapman. Before his election to the Su preme Court, he was a Judge of the Common Pleas. Mr. Justice Sterrett was born Nov. 7, 1822, in Tuscarora Valley, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, near Mifflintown. He was educated in the common schools of the neighborhood, and prepared for college at Tuscarora Academy, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Jefferson College, Pennsyl vania, in 1845, and studied in the law depart ment of the University of Virginia during 1847 and 1848. He was admitted to prac tice at Richmond, Virginia, in 1848, and to the Bar of Juniata County, Pennsylvania, in the same year, settling at Pittsburg in the following spring. In 1861 he was appointed on the commission to revise the revenue laws of the Commonwealth, and while engaged in that work was appointed, January, 1862, President Judge of the Fifth Judicial Dis trict, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. Wm. B. McClure, being elected the following October for the full term. He was re-elected in 1872. In February, 1877, he was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the late Mr. Justice Williams. In November, 1878, he was elected for the full term. Mr. Justice Green was appointed, Sept. 24, 1879, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Judge Warren J. Woodward. On Nov. 2, 1880, he was elected to serve for fifteen years. He was born August 29, 1828, in Warren County, New Jersey, and educated at Lafay ette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, at which town he was admitted to the bar, September, 1849. He was a member of the Constitu tional Convention in 1873. Mr. Justice Clark was elected Nov. 7, 1882. He was born at Elderton, Armstrong