Smith v. Union Switch & Signal Co.

Citations

• 17 Pa. Super. 444
• 1901 Pa. Super. LEXIS 409

Syllabus

<p>Highways — Dedication of streets — Recorded plan.</p> <p>The sale of lots by a landowner according to a plan to be recorded, which is followed by placing the plan on record, implies a grant or covenant to the purchaser that the street shall be forever open for the use of the public, operating thus as a dedication to the 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>The mere making of a plan even if recorded, does not constitute a complete dedication until the rights of third parties have accrued, or by public use; the plan remains under the control of the owner, and it may be modified or abrogated by him at will. After the rights of third parties have accrued, and the public authorities have accepted the dedicated way by adopting the plan as a public improvement, and have worked thereon, the original grant becomes irrevocable as a public way in its defined boundaries. The fact that the public has access to it but from one end does not prevent it from being a public street.</p>