Village of Auburn v. Goodwin

Citations

• 128 Ill. 57
• 21 N.E. 212

Syllabus

<p>1. Town plat—comity surveyor’s certificate—how far essential. Tinder the ¡Revised Statutes of 1845, the county surveyor’s certificate td the plat of a town or addition thereto, is a requisite part of such plat, although acknowledged by the proprietor. The plat is entitled to-neither acknowledgment nor record until it has been first certified by the county surveyor. His certificate must also be recorded, and form a part of the record. Then, and not till then, does the plat become* evidence of title in the corporation to the streets and alleys designated on the plat.</p> <p>2. The plat or map of a town or addition, under the law of 1845, operates as a conveyance in fee of the streets and alleys to the corporation only by force of the statute. If the plat is not made out, certified! and acknowledged substantially as required by the statute, it affords no evidence of title in the corporation to the streets and alleys.</p> <p>3. Same—former decision. The case of Gebhardt v. Reeves, 75 Ill. 305, in so far as it holds that the certificate to the survey and plat of a town or addition thereto may be legally made by a surveyor other than a. county surveyor, under the statute of 1845, and' in so far as it holds that the acknowledgment and recording of a town plat vests the fee to-streets and alleys in the municipality regardless of a compliance with the requirements of the statute as to the survey, plat and certificate of a county surveyor thereto, is in conflict with Trustees v. Walsh, 57 Ill. 360, and Thomas v. Eckard, 88 id. 596, and is overruled.</p> <p>4. Same—certificate by deputy county surveyor—but to be in the name of the principal. As county surveyors, under the law of 1845, were au■thorized to appoint deputies, it follows that the provisions of the statute as to the survey, plat or map, and certificate to the same, will be complied with if it appears to have been done by the county surveyor in person, or by his deputy.</p> <p>5. But as a deputy officer, as a rule