Gebhardt v. Reeves

Citations

• 75 Ill. 301

Syllabus

<p>1. Stbeets and alleys—making and recording .plat operates as aeonveyance of. When a plat is executed, certified, acknowledged and recorded in conformity with the provisions of the statute of 1845, in relation to laying out towns, additions and subdivisions of lots, the fee of all that portion of the land designated as streets and alleys becomes absolutely vested in the corporation of the town or city, in trust for the use of the public. If the plat is recorded before the town has a corporate existence, the fee remains in abeyance, subject to vest in the corporation as soon as created. Making and recording the plat operates as a grant of the fee to the municipality as effectually as would a deed.</p> <p>2. Same—literal compliance with statute not necessary to pass fee in streets. A substantial compliance with the provisions of the statute in making and recording a plat will be sufficient to operate as a grant of the fee in the streets and alleys. The fact that the plat and survey are made by one not a county surveyor will not invalidate the proceedings, as it is the acknowledging and recording of the plat that vests the fee in the corporation. And the fact that no corner stone is designated on the plat, as required by statute, when other monuments are designated from which the location of the lots, streets and alleys can be ascertained with equal certainty, will not render the plat inoperative to pass the title to the streets and alleys.</p> <p>3. Same—on vacation, title to revert to the original proprietor. Where a street or alley, the fee of which has passed to the corporation by the making and recording of a plat, is vacated by the corporate authorities, and its use abandoned, the fee that was in the city or town will revert to the original owner who dedicated the same, and not to the abutting lot owners, and neither the legislature nor the corporate authorities can divest such owner of it.</p> <p>4. The grant of a lot abutting upon such a street or alley is di