Garvey v. Harbison-Walker Refractories Co.

Citations

• 213 Pa. 177
• 62 A. 778
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 442

Syllabus

<p>Deed — Plan of lots — Streets—Dedication—Equity—Estoppel.</p> <p>A sale of lots according to a plan which shows them to be on a street implies a grant or covenant to the purchaser that the street shall be forever open to the use of the public, and operates as a dedication of it to public use.</p> <p>The proprietor cannot revoke the dedication, and the purchaser of a lot abutting on one of the streets as well as all other persons owning lots in the general plan may assert the public character of the street and the right of the public to use it.</p> <p>The fact that the plan of lots does not appear on the maps of the municipality is immaterial as between parties claiming under the original owner and affected with knowledge of his plan.</p> <p>Where a corporation encroaches with a building upon one of the streets shown in the plan, and its successor in title, another corporation, purchases all of the lots on the plan, except lots owned by one person, the latter has a right to compel such corporation to remove the encroachment from the street, and this he may do by a bill in equity.</p> <p>In such a case where the owner has not consented to or acquiesced in the placing of the obstruction on the street, his mere silence will not prevent him from demanding the removal of such obstruction. The rule applies that “if the truth be known to both parties, or if they have equal means of knowledge, there can be no estoppel.”</p> <p>On a bill in equity by a purchaser of a lot according to a plan of lots against another purchaser who has obstructed a street shown on the plan of lots, the question of irreparable damages does not enter, and the jurisdiction of equity will be maintained, because the law does not afford an adequate remedy.</p>