Fitzell v. Philadelphia

Citations

• 211 Pa. 1
• 60 A. 323
• 1905 Pa. LEXIS 396

Syllabus

<p>Road law—Widening street—Damages—Easement—Dedicated street— Plotted street—Deed—Boundaries.</p> <p>Where a deed calls as a boundary a street actually opened, of the width of fifty feet, but plotted on the city plan as of the width of sixty feet, the grantee takes a fee in the additional ten feet in the front of his lot abutting on the street, but there is no implied covenant on the part of the grantor that the grantee shall have an easement in the ten feet in front of other adjoining land abutting on the street, and not conveyed by the grantor. In such a case when the city actually widens the street, the grantor is entitled to damages for the ten feet in front of the land still owned by him.</p> <p>Where an easement or other right is not expressed and is sought to be implied as attached to the grant of the fee, the same must clearly appear from the intention of the parties as shown by the terms of the grant, the surroundings of the property, and the other res geste of the transaction.</p> <p>When a municipal government lays out streets on the land of a private citizen, it is not the act of the owner in any sense, and hence there is no necessity for an implication of a covenant against the owner to give his land to the public without compensation.</p>