Quicksall v. City of Philadelphia

Citations

• 177 Pa. 301
• 35 A. 609
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 982

Syllabus

<p>Streets — Dedication of streets — Sale of lots according to a plan.</p> <p>The 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 the street to public use. The right passing to the purchaser is not the mere right that he may use the street, but that all persons may use it.</p> <p>Streets — Sale of lots according to plan — Damages—Act of May 9, 1889.</p> <p>The dedication of streets by recording a plan and selling lots according to the plan operates as a relinquishment of all claims for damages for the use of the land within the lines of the streets for street purposes, and no claim for damages can be sustained unless the streets are within the protection of the act of May 9, 1889, P. L. 173.</p> <p>Streets — Damages—Statute of limitations — Streets on plan of lots — Act of May 9, 1889. I</p> <p>The act of May 9, 1889, P. L. 173, provides “That any street, lane or alley laid out by any person or persons in any village or town plot or plan of lots on lands owned by such person or persons, in case the same has not been opened to, or used by, the public for twenty-one years next after the laying out of the same, shall be and have no force and effect and shall not be opened without the consent of the owner or owners of the land on which the same has been, or shall be, laid out.” Held that the purpose of the act was to relieve land upon which streets had been laid out by the owner but not opened or used for twenty-one years from the servitude imposed.</p> <p>In 1847, an owner of land laid it out into lots and streets and recorded a plan thereof. The streets were not opened or used by the public, and the beds of the streets were in possession of the abutting owners, and used by them for the purpose of quarrying stone. Eo possession or use was claimed by others. Proceedings were begun to open the streets in 1893. He