City of L.A. v. Cohn

Citations

• 101 Cal. 373
• 35 P. 1002
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 1042

Syllabus

<p>Public Street—Possession—Abandonment by Public.—An uninterrupted possession of land claimed by a city as part of a public street, for the period of forty or fifty years, may indicate an abandonment by it of all right to the land as a public highway.</p> <p>Id.—Estoppel in Pais—Erection op Buildings With Consent of City. The principal of estoppel in pais may be applied against the public in exceptional cases where justice and right require it; and where, before the erection of buildings by the possessor of land claimed by the city as part of a public street, the city instructed its agent to investigate and report to the council its rights to the land, who investigated and reported that the city had no claim or title, which report was received, placed on file, and entered in substance upon the minutes of the proceedings of the council, whereupon the possessor of the land erected a large and valuable building upon the land, and no claim was made and no action thereafter taken by the city for a period of twenty years, the city is estopped from bringing an action for the recovery of the land as part of the street, and from obtaining a judgment which would result in a destruction of the property.</p>