People v. County of Marin

Citations

• 103 Cal. 223
• 26 L.R.A. 659
• 37 P. 203
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 753

Syllabus

<p>Authority to Close Up Public Highway.—The authority to close up and alter public highways outside of municipalities is conferred upon the board of supervisors of the several counties of the state, and can only be exercised through the instrumentalities and in the mode prescribed by law.</p> <p>Id.—Power of Board of Prison Directors—Escape of Prisoners— Ownership by State.—No power is given either by our constitution or laws to the board of prison directors to abolish public highways, and they cannot interdict public travel thereon, or interfere therewith by gates and obstructions, upon the ground that the highway may afford opportunities to facilitate the escape of prisoners; and the fact that the state owns the piece of land over which the public highway extends does not authorize it to divest the easement of the public.</p> <p>Id.—Dedication of Highway—Acceptance by Public.—Where the owner of land has dedicated a road as a public highway, and the dedication has been accepted by the public or constituted authorities of the county, the dedication is complete.</p> <p>Id.—Intent to Dedicate—Implication Prom Acts.—The question of intent to make a common-law dedication of land for a public highway is paramount, but the dedication may be express or implied, and if the donor’s acts are such as indicate an intention to appropriate the land to the public use, upon acceptance by the public the dedication becomes complete.</p> <p>Id.—Evidence of Intent and Acceptance—Petition of Owner for Highway—Insufficient Statutory Proceeding—Public Uses.—A petition by the owner of land to the board of supervisors to declare a road over his land a highway, is evidence of an intent on his part to dedicate it to the public use; and when the board of supervisors did so declare it, although the proceeding was not accompanied by all the forms required by the statute to constitute it a highway, in a statutory sense, its action is evidence of an acceptance by the board for the public use as s