Longworth v. Sedevic

• Decision Date: 19 November 1901
• Parties: LONGWORTH et al. v. SEDEVIC.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

65 S.W. 260

165 Mo. 221

LONGWORTH et al. v. SEDEVIC.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

November 19, 1901.

PUBLIC STREETS — IMPERFECT DEDICATION — RATIFICATION — ACCEPTANCE — TITLE BY ADVERSE POSSESSION — OBSTRUCTION — PARTIES.

1. An owner of land conveyed part of his property to third persons, and thereafter platted and laid out a town, dedicating certain streets to public use; the plat, however, including part of the tract already sold. Thereafter subsequent owners of the latter tract sold a portion thereof to plaintiff's ancestor, designating the property as the "northeast corner lot of block 7" of said town, and the balance to other parties, reserving the said tract by substantially the same description. There was no block 7 in the town, except as laid out in the plat referred to. Held, that the attempted dedication of the street within the tract not owned by the maker of the plat at the time it was made was ratified and validated by its subsequent owners when they executed the deed referred to.

2. In 1837 an imperfect dedication of a street to public use was made by one who did not own the land dedicated. The real owners ratified the dedication in 1883, and the town trustees treated it as a public street at least from that date. Held an acceptance of the street by the town authorities.

3. Where land is actually and continuously used as a street by the public for 14 years and more without objection from any one, and with the knowledge of all, the right to its use as a street will vest in the public by limitation.

4. An abutting landowner may maintain injunction to prevent the obstruction of a public street, he having an especial interest therein because the street makes his property corner property, and affords him access to the side and rear thereof.

Appeal from St. Louis circuit court; Rudolph Hirzel, Judge.

Injunction by Lucy A. Longworth and others against Petrolena Sedevic. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs appeal. Reversed.

This is a bill in equity to enjoin the defendant from interfering with an easement the plaintiffs claim in an alleged street called "Ferry Street," in the town of Fenton, in St. Louis county. The defendant had judgment in the trial court, and the plaintiffs appealed. The facts are these: On the 28th of March, 1818, Antoine Soulard conveyed 480 arpens, including the premises claimed, to constitute Ferry street, and also all the land now owned by the plaintiffs and defendant, to William L. Long. On the 21st of March, 1827, Long conveyed to Caleb Bowles 156 arpens of the 480 arpens aforesaid. This conveyance also included the alleged Ferry street and all the property now owned by the plaintiffs and defendant. On the 1st of April, 1837, Long platted and laid out the town of Fenton. The plat showed a town of four blocks long and two blocks wide. Long divided the blocks into lots, and also laid out and dedicated to public use streets. The streets running north and south he designated on the plat "Water Street," "Main Street," and "Third Street." Those running east and west he designated "Ferry Street," "Mound Street," "Ward Street," and "Grave Street." This plat included a part of the land Long had sold 10 years previously to Caleb Bowles, and also included the part of Ferry street shown on the plat lying between Main and Third street, and also included the property owned by the plaintiffs. Prior to March 11, 1861, the heirs of Caleb Bowles sold all the property he had acquired from Long to John and Samuel Vandovers. On the 6th of March, 1883, the Vandovers sold 59 acres of the 156 arpens, including the alleged Ferry street and the property owned by the plaintiffs, to Thomas F. Gately and Peter J. Welch. On the same day Gately and Welch sold to the plaintiffs' ancestor, William Longworth, a portion of the 59 acres they acquired from the Vandovers, describing it as "being the northeast corner lot of block No. 7 of the town of Fenton, in St. Louis county, Missouri, beginning at said northeast corner of said block No. seven (7), thence south, 38¾° west, with the north line of said block, 150 feet, to a stone; thence, 51¼° east, 50 feet, to the corner of lot formerly owned by one Katzung, now owned by Lucy A. Longworth; thence north, 38¾° east, 150 feet, to Katzung's (now Longworth's) northeast corner, in the west line of Main street, Fenton; thence north, 51¼° west, 50 feet, to the beginning." Afterwards, on the 5th of May, 1885, Welch conveyed to Gately his interest in the 59 acres, except the lot sold to Longworth, and excepting 8.76 acres previously sold to Stephen Bost. On the 6th of May, 1885, Gately conveyed by deed of trust all the 59 acres, except the part sold to Stephen Bost, "and excepting a lot of 50 feet by 150 feet in the northeast corner of block 7, town of Fenton, heretofore sold to Wm. Longworth," to Julius Hunicke, trustee for the Joseph Schneider Brewing Co. On the 20th of October, 1887, Hunicke foreclosed the deed of trust, and conveyed the property to the Schneider Brewing Company; the deed reciting the same exceptions as to the land sold to Stephen Bost and the lot sold to William Longworth. On the 15th of November, 1888, the Joseph Schneider Brewing Company sold the land it acquired to Mathias Sedevic, and the deed contained the same exceptions as to the land sold to Bost and to Longworth. In none of these deeds is any mention made of Ferry street, but Main street, upon which plaintiffs' property fronts, is mentioned; and in all of them the plaintiffs' property is described as a lot 50 by 150 feet, in the northeast corner of block No. 7, town of Fenton. There is no block No. 7 in the town of Fenton, except as it was laid out on the plat of the town of Fenton made and recorded by William L. Long on April 1, 1837. The town of Fenton was incorporated in 1874, and Gately and Longworth were members of the board of trustees for ten or twelve years. Longworth owned 50 feet, being lot 1...