O'Donnell v. Pittsburgh

Citations

• 234 Pa. 401
• 83 A. 314
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 661

Syllabus

<p>Road law — Plan of lots — Dedication of streets.</p> <p>1. 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; and the owner of any lot in the general plan may assert the public character of any street and the right of the public to use it. The rights in dedicated streets acquired by a purchaser of lots by a deed referring to a plat are private contract rights, and are not affected by the failure of the municipality to act upon the dedication.</p> <p>2. The owner of any lot or lots who has purchased with the knowledge of the plan in accordance with which the lots were sold, cannot obstruct or deny to the public the right to use any of the streets or alleys shown on the plan. The easement over the streets is appurtenant to every lot, and becomes a property interest in the purchaser of the lot which may be protected by appropriate legal process.</p> <p>3. As between parties claiming under the original proprietor and having notice of the plan of lots, it is immaterial whether the plan was signed, acknowledged, or recorded.</p> <p>4. The fact that the original proprietor dedicated only twenty feet of a forty feet wide street, and that the remaining twenty feet was dedicated by another person to public use, does not defeat the right of a purchaser of lots in the plan to insist that twenty feet of street shown on the plan should be kept open for public use.</p> <p>5. The Act of June 16, 1836, P. L. 749, providing that streets lanes and alleys within the city of Pittsburgh laid out by private persons shall be deemed public highways has no application to land laid out in lots when situated in a township, but which subsequently became part of the city of Pittsburgh. In such a case the right of a lot owner to an easement in the streets cannot be taken away by a city ordinance.</p> <p>6. Where land