Brokaw v. Town of Stanwood

Citations

• 79 Wash. 322
• 140 P. 358

Syllabus

<p>Highways — Vacation — Abandonment — Burden of Proof — Evidence — Sufficiency. The burden of showing that a dedicated street in an unincorporated town was vacated by remaining unopened for the space of five years, as provided in Ballinger’s Code, § 3803, is upon the party resting claims upon such fact; ana the mere fact that there was no public travel upon the northerly half of such a street does not show that the street was unopened for public use.</p> <p>Same — Prescriptive Rights — Constructive Possession. If a highway is physically open to the free use of the public, the public’s constructive possession is sufficient to protect its acquired paper title.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations — Streets—Abandonment — Vacation— Statutes — Application. Ballinger’s Code, § 3803, providing that any road which remains unopened for public use for the space of five years shall be vacated, has no application to streets in cities and1 towns; and the incorporation of a town exempts from the operation of the statute all roads within the limits that were not vacated at the time of the incorporation.</p>