Rowe v. James

Citations

• 71 Wash. 267
• 128 P. 539
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 733

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations —Streets — Vacation — Statutes — Implied Repeal. The act of 1901, Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 7840-7843, providing a complete method for the vacation of streets and alleys in some respects inconsistent with the earlier law, repeals by implication Id., § 7847, of the earlier act.</p> <p>Same — Ownership on Vacation — Statutes. The act of 1901, Rem. & Bal. Code, § 7842, providing that, upon the vacation of a street, the fee should belong to the abutting owners, confers no rights where vested rights were acquired prior to the passage of the act, in view of § 4 of the act, Rem. & Bal. Code, § 7843, providing that no vested rights shall be affected by the act.</p> <p>Dedication — Streets—Pee. A city acquires only an easement in streets dedicated by a plat.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations — Streets—Vacation—Ownership oe Pee —Dedication—Plats. The general rule that abutters own the fee to the center of the street is controlled by the circumstances; and where an owner plats land bounded by a street included in the plat and owns nothing beyond the street, his conveyance of land abutting on the street carries the fee to the entire street; and vacation vests title to the entire street in such owner.</p> <p>Same — Streets—Vacation—Rights. An abutting owner acquires no rights to the fee of a vacated street by reason of the payment of assessments for its maintenance and improvement.</p> <p>Tenancy in Common — Estoppel. One cotenant cannot estop another by his unauthorized words and acts.</p> <p>Same. The fact that two cotenants circulated a petition for the vacation of a street with the knowledge and consent of another co-tenant did not authorize them to surrender any of his rights in the property.</p> <p>Estoppel — Representations as to Matters oe Law — Title to Property. Where abutters on one side of the street, owning the entire fee, induced abutters on the other side, whose signatures were necessary, to sign a petition for vacation of the street by falsely re