Weiss v. Bor. of South Bethlehem

Citations

• 136 Pa. 294
• 20 A. 801
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1030

Syllabus

<p>L Dedication of land to public use as a highway is a question of intention. When the intention to dedicate exists, and the way is used by the public, the dedication will become effective without reference to the length of time covered by such user; but, when there is no such intention, the user . will not work a dedication, however long continued.</p> <p>2. A mere permissive use by the public, as a street, of a piece of ground left open by the owner in front of his property, and concurrently used by himself in his own business and for his own convenience, will not work a dedication to public use, nor will it confer upon the public any right as against the owner.</p> <p>3. An owner may make a limited dedication in favor of the public, resumable at his mere pleasure, or may suffer a permissive use by the public for all purposes of passage, jointly with himself, without in any degree impairing his right to terminate such privilege at any time: Gowen v. Phila. Exchange Co., 5 W. & S. 142 ; Griffin’s App., 109 Pa. 150.</p> <p>4. When there is no other evidence of dedication than the mere fact of public user, so that the right claimed, by the public is purely prescriptive, it is essential, to maintain it, that the user or enjoyment should be adverse, uninterrupted and exclusive for twenty-one years: Commonwealth v. Cole, 26 Pa. 187, distinguished.</p> <p>5. It is not error to instruct a jury that the facts that a strip of ground has been used by the public as a street continuously for twenty-one years, that it leads from one avenue to another and is the natural route to and from several manufactories, and that a building line has been maintained by property owners along it, are “some evidence” of dedication, but not conclusive.</p> <p>6. In assessing damages for the laying out of a public street, in front of a manufacturing establishment and between it and a railroad, the jury may consider whether the loss of the right of the owners to lay a private siding upon the sit