Huffman v. Hall

Citations

• 102 Cal. 26
• 36 P. 417
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 596

Syllabus

<p>Roads and Highways—Public User—Dedication—Evidence—Offer of Proof.—Where a road has not been laid out as such by the public, it cannot he held to be a public highway by virtue of section 2618 of the code, unless it is shown to have been dedicated or abandoned to the public by the owner of the land; and an offer to prove its use by the public for the period of five years, accompanied by a statement of the party offering the evidence that he did not expect to prove any intention on the part of the owner of the land to dedicate the land as a public highway, except by proving its use by the public, is properly excluded.</p> <p>Id.—Intention to Dedicate Essential—Effect of User.—Dedication exists only where the owner of the land has manifested some intention to make the dedication; and where the dedication of a highway is sought to he established by user, it must appear that such user was with the knowledge of the owner, and with his consent, or without objection on his part.</p> <p>Id.—License to Use Way—Inclosure by Fence—Rebuttal of Dedication.—The fact that the land had been inclosed by a fence would show that any use of it by the public for a way was only permissive, and is strong evidence in support of a mere license to the public to pass over the designated way, and in rebuttal of a dedication to public use.</p> <p>Id.—User for Five Years—Amendment of Code—Repeal of Original Section—Case Overruled.—The provision of section 2619 of the Political Code, as it originally stood, June 1, 1873, providing that “all roads used as such for a period of five years are highways,” was superseded and repealed by the amendment of March 30, 1874, although the amendatory act was made applicable to certain counties only, and the original section could not, after the date of that amendment, he invoked as an authority for the creation of a highway by mere user in any county of the state. (Qloster v. Wade, 78 Cal. 407, overruled.)</p> <p>Id.—Constitutional Law—Republication of Amend