City of Chicago v. Rumsey

Citations

• 87 Ill. 348

Syllabus

<p>1. Boundary—whether conveyance of lot on street carries any interest therein. Notwithstanding the general presumption that a conveyance of land bounded on a street or highway carries the fee in the street or highway to the center thereof, the owner may convey the adjoining land without the soil under the street or highway. It is but a presumption, that may be rebutted by circumstances inconsistent with it. If it does pass by a deed, it does so as a parcel of the land and not as an appurtenant.</p> <p>2. Where a lot on a street is conveyed, and the same is described as “ beginning at a point on the east line of” the lot, which is given by number, “ one hundred and forty feet from the north-east corner of said lot, running thence south along the line of said lot to the alley, thence west seventy-two feet, thence north forty feet, more or less, to a point, and west of the point of beginning, thence east to the place of beginning,” the fixing the boundary in such strict terms necessarily excludes any presumption of intention to pass any interest in the soil.</p> <p>3. Use or street under municipal direction — injury to adjacent owners. The fee of the soil in the streets in the original town of Chicago, laid off by the canal commissioners under the provisions of law, is either in the State or in the city, for the use of the public generally, and it was competent for the city, under legislative authority of the State, to construct a tunnel in one of the streets, and if done in a proper manner, and without unreasonable delay, no action lies against the city in favor of an adjoining lot owner, whose property has received no physical injury.</p> <p>4. From the well established policy of the State legislature to vest the fee of the streets in the various municipal authorities, it would require clear and satisfactory proof that the State intended to vest a private ownership in the streets in cities and towns laid out by it. If the fee is in the corporation, it is only as an