City of Elgin v. Beckwith

Citations

• 119 Ill. 367
• 10 N.E. 558

Syllabus

<p>1. Boundaries—accretions—of the rule for extending lines to take in an accretion. As a general rule, where new land is formed on a river bank by a change in the river, the riparian proprietor’s lands will be extended bylines drawn at right angles with the middle thread of so much of the river as lies opposite the shore line, rather than at right angles with the shore line. But this rule, under special circumstances, is subject to modification.</p> <p>2. Same—of evidence in reference to boundaries, in connection with the question of accretions. A town was laid out on the east bank of a river, the plat showing a street extending due east and west, sixty-six feet wide, up to the river, which ran in a south-easterly course, and a lot bounded on the west by the river, and on the south by the north line of the street. After the location of the town, the river receded some seventy feet to the west, leaving an accretion. The lot owner claimed all of the accretion north of a line from his south-west corner, extending to the river at a right angle to its general course, while the city claimed all of it south of an extension of the north line of the street to the river, and also a part of the accretion south of the south line of the street extended in like manner, thus making the street one hundred feet wide at the river bank. It appeared that the travel on the street over such accretion had been deflected to the south as it approached the river, to reach a bridge over the same. In ejectment, by the owner of the lot, to recover the accretion claimed by him, the city, which was the defendant, offered in evidence a deed for land south of the street, as extended due west, which the court refused to admit: Held, that the court erred in excluding the same, as it afforded a reasonable explanation why the street was wider at the river.</p> <p>3. In a case where it becomes material to show the north line of a public street over land formed by accretions since it was first laid out,