Smith v. Town of Flora

Citation1872 WL 8267,64 Ill. 93
PartiesBASIL B. SMITH et al.v.TOWN OF FLORA et al.
Decision Date30 June 1872
CourtSupreme Court of Illinois

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

WRIT OF ERROR to the Circuit Court of Clay county; the Hon. RICHARD S. CANBY, Judge, presiding.

Mr. B. B. SMITH, and Mr. M. SCHÆFFER, for the plaintiffs in error.

Mr. H. P. BUXTON, and Mr. RUFUS COPE, for the defendants in error.

Mr. JUSTICE THORNTON delivered the opinion of the Court:

The object of this bill was to quiet title and declare a dedication. Justice to the parties and the protection of the public rights require that it should be sustained. The only question is, was there a dedication of the ground in controversy and an acceptance?

It is not necessary, to constitute a dedication, that there should be a grant in writing. It may often be to the use of an unincorporated town, or to the public--a body incapable of taking by grant--and in such case, there could be no writing to manifest the intention. When a party owning lands shall do such acts in pais as amount to a dedication, he is estopped from a denial of the right to enjoy what has been thus dedicated; and when made and accepted by the public, it is irrevocable.

Dedications may be proved in every conceivable way--by a survey and plat alone, and by grant, by user and by the acts and declarations of the owner. Godfrey v. The City of Alton, 12 Ill. 29; Marcy v. Taylor, 19 Ill. 634.

They may be shown by matter in pais, consisting of the acts and accompanying declarations of the owner, and acceptance may be proved by the user of the public or by the acts of officers. They may be inferred from length of user and acquiescence by the owners. Acquiescence by the owner will estop his grantee from a denial. Dimon v. The People, 17 Ill. 416; Rees v. The City of Chicago, 38 Ill. 322.

With this cursory view of the law, we will briefly advert to the facts.

Previous to the laying out of the town of Flora, the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad had acquired the right of way through the tract of land upon which the town was laid out. When the plat of the town was made, acknowledged and filed for record, strips of ground were left on each side of the right of way. On this vacant space, on each side of the right of way, lots, as platted, abutted.

The plat was signed by White, one of the proprietors, and by Brown, by his attorney in fact. Brown was trustee of Sanger, Camp & Co., and had the legal title. The defendants below claim title as grantees of Sanger, Camp & Co. At the...

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32 cases
  • Bond v. Dunmire
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • December 28, 1984
    ...(1877), 84 Ill. 528, 531; Maywood Co. v. Village of Maywood (1886), 118 Ill. 61, 71-72, 6 N.E. 866, 870-71; Smith v. Town of Flora (1872), 64 Ill. 93; Marshall v. Pfeiffer (1924), 314 Ill. 286, 145 N.E. 411; Trustees of Schools v. Dassow (1926), 321 Ill. 346, 353, 151 N.E. 896, 899; Gerstle......
  • Lovelace v. Hightower.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of New Mexico
    • May 1, 1946
    ......        In Smith v. Mitchell, 21 Wash. 536, 58 P. 667, 668, 75 Am.St.Rep. 858, a construction of the federal ...Town of Flora, 64 Ill. 93.         ‘* * * Sec. 2477 was a grant by the government of an ......
  • Lovelace v. Hightower
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of New Mexico
    • May 1, 1946
    ...of the land, and the fact of its being used for the public purposes intended by the appropriation.' See, also, Smith v. Town of Flora, 64 Ill. 93. '* * * Sec. 2477 was a grant by the government of an easement, and defendant sought to prove an acceptance [168 P.2d 872] prior to the location ......
  • Clokey v. Wabash Ry. Co., 21968.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Illinois
    • October 21, 1933
    ......     ‘Beginning at the southwest corner of the northeast quarter of section twelve (12), town sixteen (16) north, range two (2) east of the third (3rd) P. M., in the county of Macon and State ...Smith-Hurd Rev. St. 1933, c. 109, § 1. The plat of Geddes suburb was not a compliance with this statute, ...208, 56 N. E. 378;Rees v. City of Chicago, 38 Ill. 322;Smith v. Town of Flora, 64 Ill. 93;Wragg v. Penn Township, 94 Ill. 11, 34 Am. Rep. 199;Fairbury Agricultural Board v. ......
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