Subject to Section 18 of the Act of the General Assembly approved April 21, 1949, P.L. 665, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it is the intention of the electors in adopting this charter that it shall supersede all statutes or parts of statutes, local, special or general, and all ordinances of the City, affecting the organization, government and powers of the City to the extent that they are inconsistent or in conflict with this charter.
ANNOTATION
Sources: Act of April 21, 1949, P.L. 865, Section 18.
Purposes: 1. The legislation authorizing this Charter imposed certain limitations upon the powers of the Charter Commission. Section 18 thus provides:
"Section 18. Limitations. No city shall exercise any powers or authority beyond the city limits except such as are conferred by an act of the General Assembly, and no city shall engage in any proprietary or private business except as authorized by the General Assembly. Notwithstanding the grant of powers contained in this act, no city shall exercise powers contrary to, or in limitation or enlargement of, powers granted by acts of the General Assembly which are -
"(a) Applicable to a class or classes of cities on the following subjects:
"(1) Providing for the filing and collection of municipal and tax claims or liens and for the sale of real or personal property in satisfaction thereof;
"(2) Providing for the exercise of the power of eminent domain and the procedure for the condemnation of property for public purposes;
"(3) Providing for the assessment of damages and benefits for property taken, injured or destroyed;
"(4) Providing methods for the incurring or increasing of indebtedness;
"(5) Providing for the annexation or exclusion or detachment of territory;
"(6) Regulating public schools;
"(7) Providing for the personal registration of electors;
"(8) Limiting rates and fixing subjects of taxation;
"(9) Providing for assessment of real or personal property and persons for taxation purposes.
"(b) Applicable in every part of the Commonwealth.
"(c) Applicable to all the cities of the Commonwealth." Act of April 29, 1949, P.L. 665.
Accordingly, until the statute is amended, the provisions of this Charter cannot supersede any laws coming with in the limitations quoted above.
2. Subject to the above limitations, provisions of this Charter do supersede all statutes or parts of statutes, local, special or general of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and all ordinances of the City in any manner affecting the organization, government and powers of the City to the extent that they are inconsistent with the Charter provisions. The Charter Commission did not have the express power to repeal statutes or ordinances but the same objective is obtained in substance by its power to supersede statutes and ordinances inconsistent with provisions of the Charter. No attempt was made to list all such laws superseded for statutes applicable to the City and ordinances of the City are too numerous to have permitted the Commission to perform this task. Codification and revision of City ordinances will be a step in that direction. See Sections 2-304 and 4-400(e). It should be noted in particular that provisions of the Charter of 1919 not inconsistent with this Charter are not superseded and remain in full force and effect. The same is true of the Consolidation Act of 1854 (see Section 11-103), and other statutes applicable to the City of Philadelphia or to Cities of the First Class.