Youree v. Vicksburg, S. & P. R.

Citations

• 110 La. 791
• 34 So. 779
• 1903 La. LEXIS 708

Syllabus

<p>RAILROADS — RIGHT OP WAY — POSSESSION — PRESUMPTIONS — JUDICIAL NOTICE —TELEGRAPH LINES.</p> <p>1.Where a railroad makes a cut through a hill to pass, and thereafter runs through the ■cut, the presumption after 30 years -is that it originally took possession of all the space occupied by the cut, and thereafter continued in possession of the entire space so taken.</p> <p>2. This possession, however, is restricted to the space occupied by the original excavation, and does not widen with the enlargement of the excavation by the gradual washing in of the sides in the course of time.</p> <p>3. The limits of the original excavation having become uncertain, the task of the court must be to fix them as best can be done under the evidence.</p> <p>4. The fact that a telegraph line is indis-, pensable to the operation of a railway, and that in this country such telegraph usually consists of wires strung on posts set upright alongside of the railroad, may be taken judicial notice of; but the space required for the repair of such a telegraph is not a matter of such general and common knowledge that judicial notice may be taken of it.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>