Allen v. Munn

Citations

• 55 Ill. 486

Syllabus

<p>1, Riparian owners—who so considered—of the owners of canal lots in the city of Chicago. Upon certain land situate in the original town of Chicago, which was granted by the general government to this State and which constituted a part of the canal lands, the canal commissioners laid off certain blocks and lots, some of the lots fronting on the East on Canal street, which was bordered on the side opposite these lots by the Chicago river: Reld, the owners of lots fronting on that street on the side separated from the river by the street, had no right of private property merely by virtue of such ownership, in land that might lie on the opposite side of the street immediately upon the river bank.</p> <p>2. Nor is there any act of the legislature giving to such owners an equitable right to acquire title to land lying opposite their lots, between the street and the river, to the exclusion of other persons. The legislation on that subject left it to the discretion of the common council of the city to determine to whom the wharfage lots should be conveyed.</p> <p>3. Limitation act of 1839—application as to public and private rights. Where the title and possession of a party in land claimed by him are questioned by an individual, who claims the premises as his own, and the party in possession invokes for his protection the act of 1839, the question can not arise whether the statute would run against the public, on the allegation that the premises in controversy constituted a part of a public highway, because the right against which the statute would be invoked in such case would be a mere private claim.</p> <p>4. Same—of the payment of tarns. While a defendant can not claim the benefit of the limitation act of 1839, unless he has actually paid the taxes, even though illegally assessed, because not within its spirit, yet if he has paid them for the time required, he can not be denied its protection merely on the ground that the assessment was illegal,—as that the premises