Meyer v. Meldrum

• Decision Date: 03 January 1927
• Docket Number: No. 92.,92.
• Citation: 211 N.W. 658,237 Mich. 318
• Parties: MEYER, Township Highway Com'r, et al. v. MELDRUM et al.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

237 Mich. 318

211 N.W. 658

MEYER, Township Highway Com'r, et al.

v.MELDRUM et al.

No. 92.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Jan. 3, 1927.

Appeal from Circuit Court, St. Clair County, in Chancery; Harvey Tappan, Judge.

Suit by Theodore Meyer, Highway Commissioner of the Township of Ira, and others, against Charles A. Meldrum and others. Decree for defendants, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

Argued before the Entire Bench.Shirley Stewart, of Port Huron (Eugene F. Black, of Port Huron, of counsel), for appellants.

Walsh, Walsh & O'Sullivan, of Port Huron, for appellees.

SNOW, J.

This case calls for the determination of whether a parcel of land 40x66 feet in dimension, lying between the Dixie Highway and Lake St. Clair, is a portion of the Meldrum road, so-called, which comes down from the north through the townships of Casco and Ira, in St. Clair county.

Plaintiffs claim that it is, and that the Meldrum road continues on south of the Dixie (which runs in an easterly and westerly direction) down to the lake. Defendants, on the other hand, claim that this road ends at the Dixie, and that considerable land south thereof, including the parcel in question, belongs to Mr. Meldrum.

While defendants were exercising rights of ownership in this disputed parcel of land, plaintiffs sought to enjoin them by injunction, but the trial court, after hearing proofs and viewing the premises, dismissed their bill. Being aggrieved thereby, they appeal.

Plaintiffs first claim that the records of the township of Ira in 1864 established the highway in question down to the lake, thereby including this disputed strip south of the Dixie. They further claim that since that time the public has made such use of the land in question as in and by itself would establish a public highway and create a public easement therein.

The chancellor found against them on both claims, and strenuous objection is made to such findings, a large portion of the briefs of plaintiffs' counsel being thus directed.

We find it unnecessary to pass upon these holdings, because, in our opinion, the great weight of the evidence establishes beyond question that if there ever existed a highway south of the Dixie, either from user or by lawful establishment, it was legally abandoned as such many years ago.

Without referring in detail to the testimony of the various witnesses, we give some of our conclusions as to what the record establishes.

The Dixie Highway, running along the shore of the lake, was formerly known as the Lake Shore Road. In 1900 the Detroit United Railway constructed its tracks along the side next to the lake. It was paved four years ago and is largely used. A photograph of the Meldrum road where it runs into the Dixie, showing the surroundings, is one of the exhibits in the case which we find helpful. From this, supplemented by testimony of witnesses, we find that the car tracks are elevated above the pavement, with a level space of ground about 3 feet on the east and then a decided drop of about 2 1/2 feet, making it utterly impossible to drive an automobile over it. In the years that have passed, Mr. Meldrum and his ancestors planted trees directly in the path of where the road is claimed to be. He also dug a well there some 15 or 16 years ago, and he has long maintained a dyke of some sort, made of logs, stones, and cement, to prevent the land being washed away by the water from the lake. For many years there has been no attempt to travel over this land as a highway, and the township has done no work on it as such. Henry Paquette, a witness for plaintiffs, claims he did some township highway work in opening a ditch...