In a case that has the potential to alter or abolish the procedure by which landlocked property owners are afforded relief, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania appears to have left the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s Private Road Act in grave doubt. In a recent decision, In the Matter of: Opening of a Private Road For the Benefit of Timothy P. O’Reilly , the Pennsylvania Supreme Court remanded the case for reconsideration.
The court took issue with the Commonwealth Court’s holding that the Pennsylvania Private Road Act, 36 P.S. 2731, (PRA) does not effectan unconstitutional taking of private property. Over a three-justice dissent, the Supreme Court determined that the Commonwealth Court engaged in a flawed analysis in upholding the challenge to the constitutionality of the PRA. The court unequivocally declared that the taking of private land for private use is a taking. Nevertheless, the court was not prepared to use this particular case to abandon long-standing precedent.
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