and of any sum of money decreed to be paid by any such new district to the school district of any township from which it was formed for any undue proportion of school property within the bounds of such new district, and may order the proper officers of the school district or districts of any said township or townships, borough or boroughs, or of either of them, to collect, by special taxation, an amount sufficient to pay the same, either in any one year or by annual installments, as to the court shall appear just and reasonable. 30

Court may appoint receiver. Duty of receiver.

50. The said court shall have power, in its discretion, to appoint a receiver to whom the money due on account of indebtedness from each school district for the purpose aforesaid shall be paid, and it shall be his duty to pay over the amount so received by him to the holders of said indebtedness in such order or in such proportions as the court shall direct, and in case of any special taxation in any said school district, or in all of them, being ordered for or on account of any indebtedness as aforesaid, the collector of said special tax shall pay the same directly to said receiver. 31

How indebtedness shall be credited. How balance shall be credited.

51. The school district of each borough, in any of the cases aforesaid, shall be credited with the proper share of such indebtedness, due to the school district or districts of said township or townships, at the time of the formation of such borough district, as shall have since been collected, and shall likewise be credited with its proper share of any unappropriated balance in the treasury of the school district or districts of said township or townships at the end of the current school year during which such borough district shall have been formed, and the said court shall have like power to equitably adjust and apportion the same.32

30. Act June 24, 1895, Sec. 5, P. L. 261. 31. Act June 24, 1895, Sec. 6, P. L. 262. 32. Act June 24, 1895, Sec. 7, P. L. 262.

Enforcement of orders and decrees.

52. The costs of said proceedings shall be paid by the school districts of the said several townships and boroughs in such proportions as the said court shall adjudge, and the orders and decrees of the said court in such proceedings may be enforced by attachment.33

When township is merged into one borough.

53. Whenever any township has been or shall hereafter be changed or merged into one borough the school district of said borough shall succeed to all the rights and liabilities of the school district of said township, and in all the actions pending by or against the school district of said township the school district of said borough shall be substituted as party instead of the school district of said township, and in all actions thereafter brought for matters in behalf of or against the school district of said township the school district of the said borough shall be the party plaintiff or defendant, as the case may be, instead of the school district of said township.34

54. Nothing in this act contained shall be held or construed to supersede or repeal the provisions of any existing act of assembly applicable to the same subject matter.35

CHAPTER III.

POWERS AND LIABILITIES OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

55. May sue and be sued........

56. To purchase or sell real estate...

57. Directors shall have no interest in property purchased.

58. Real estate held in trust........

59. Conveyance of real estate to school district by surviving trustees 60. Deeds, how executed.......

61. Suits by and against school districts.......

62. How summons must be made....

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71. Evidence for school district.......

72. Procedure on a judgment rendered by a justice of the peace or

75. Failure to comply with the act. Records and transcripts......... 27

May sue and be sued.

55. The several school districts within this Commonwealth shall have capacity as bodies corporate :

I. To sue and be sued as such, by the corporate name of the school district of

To purchase or sell real estate.

56. II.-To purchase and hold such real and personal property as may be necessary for the establishment and support of the schools, and the same to sell, alien, and dispose of, when it shall no longer be necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and also, whenever the board of directors or controllers, in cases where school property has been conveyed to them, shall deem it expedient to make sale of the said real estate, for the purpose of reinvesting the proceeds thereof for school purposes.1

I. Act May 8, 1854, Sec. 18, P. L. 620.

Directors shall have no interest in property purchased.

57. School directors interested in a piece of property, may, at the suit of a taxpayer, be enjoined from voting in favor of its purchase by the district; and this though the purchase is being made in good faith and at a fair price.2

Real estate held in trust.

58. In cases where real estate is held by trustees, or others, for the general use of a neighborhood-for a school house or its appendages—and when the same shall cease to be required, it shall be lawful for the said trustees, or others, their survivor or survivors, or successors, to convey the same to the proper district, which shall be thereafter held by said district, for the same term and for the same uses for which it was originally granted to said trustees or others. But should the said trustees, from indisposition on the part of the proper board of school directors of the district, to accept of said conveyance, or from other causes, find it impossible to release themselves from said trust, they, or a majority of them, may apply to the court of common pleas of the proper county, praying said court to authorize and direct the aforesaid trustee, trustees or other persons, to make sale of the same, having first given two weeks' previous notice, in one or more of the public prints of said county, of the time and place of said sales; and shall make return of proceeds of sale to said court, that the same may, by the direction of said court, be added to the funds of the proper school district; whereupon the said trustee, trustees or other persons, shall be discharged from all responsibility in the premises.3

Conveyance of real estate to school district by surviving trustees.

59. In all cases where real estate has been or is held by the trustees, for the general use of the neighborhood as a school house or its appendages, and the same has been or shall be conveyed to the school district by the surviving trustees, such conveyance shall be as valid to pass the legal estate in the premises to such school district as if executed

by all of them, pursuant to the fourteenth section of the act of the thirteenth of June, 1836.4

Deeds, how executed.

60. All deeds and other contracts in writing, made by a school district, shall be signed and sealed by the president of the board of directors or controllers, and countersigned by the secretary.5

Suits by and against school districts.

61. All suits by a school district shall be brought in its corporate name, and be conducted and managed by the board of directors or controllers, as the case may be; and all suits against such district shall style the same by its corporate name, and all legal process, other than writs to enforce payment of a judgment, shall be served on either the president or secretary of the board of directors or controllers, as the case may be."

How summons must be made.

62. The act of May 8th, 1854, provides that all suits against a school district shall style the same by its corporate name, and all legal process other than suits to enforce payment of a judgment, shall be served on either the president or secretary of the board of directors. It must be served personally on the officer. It cannot be served on its officers by leaving a copy at his house with an adult member of the family.7

Negligence

63. School districts are quasi corporations having limited powers for carrying out the common school system within its limits, and cannot be held in the same measure to accountability for the wrongful acts and negligence of its officers, servants or agents, as a private corporation; hence is not liable for injuries sustained by those attending its schools.8

7.

Flood vs. Masey School District, 9 Kulp, 385, 1899.