West Bellevue Borough & Killbuck Township v. Huddleston

Citations

• 1 Monag. 129
• 16 A. 764
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 1295

Syllabus

<p>Where a borough throws water collected by rains and freshets on a public highway of a township, and the township accepts the burden of the water, the borough is not liable in damages to a landowner in the township, upon whose land the water has been thrown from the highway.</p> <p>To give a servitude over another’s land for the flowage of water, or for the maintenance of a drain or water course, without twenty years’ apparent and visible use, actual consent must be shown by the evidence and cannot be inferred from- the mere fact of the owner’s making no objection to such use.</p> <p>A party, sued for damages for overflowing the premises of an adjoining landowner, requested the court to charge that no recovery could be had if the plaintiff consented to the overflow, or, by acts recited in the point, prior to his ownership of the land, caused an increase in the overflow. The court affirmed the point with the qualification that actual consent must be shown by the evidence, and cannot be inferred from the mere fact of acquiescence. Held, that, in the absence of a more specific request to charge the jury, the defendant could not complain, although there may have been evidence from which the jury might infer actual consent on the part of the plaintiff.</p>