McKee v. Pennsylvania Railroad

Citations

• 255 Pa. 560
• 100 A. 454
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 493

Syllabus

<p>Municipalities — Railroads—Streets—Dedication—Acceptance — Evidence — Ejectment. ' . '</p> <p>1. The authorization by a municipality of the construction of a railroad on a dedicated street is an acceptance of the dedication.</p> <p>2. In an action of ejectment by the owner of the fee against a railroad company to recover possession of a strip of land in the bed of what was alleged by the defendant to be a city street, the right to. occupy which defendant claimed by virtue of an ordinance, binding instructions for the defendant were proper where it appeared that the street was plotted on an ancient plan of partition in the year 1844; that in the succeeding five years it was recognized as a boundary in at least four proceedings in partition and subsequently in a number of deeds of conveyance of parcels of the land and in other proceedings; that the first municipality to include such street within its limits was incorporated in 1849, ¿tnd that the borough engineer at that time, at the direction of the council, made a borough map on which the street was shown as a public highway, and that it also, appeared as a public street on all borough maps, and was the subject of various borough provisions and regulations; that the borough became part of the city in 1872, and that the latter adopted an ordinance of 1886 granting to the defendant the right to occupy the said street, with its railroad tracks.'</p> <p>3. In such case a provision in the original deed of partition that “the streets are for the use of all the parties to the partition” was not inconsistent with a dedication of the streets and did not limit the use of such streets to the individual parties.</p> <p>Evidence — Ejectment—Ancient map — Declarations — Deceased surveyor — Photographs—Payment of taxes — Rebuttal evidence.</p> <p>4. A map prepared by a borough engineer in 1849 at the direction of borough council and found in the surveyor’s desk after his death but never formally adopted, is admissible as eviden