Moore v. City of Cape Girardeau

• Citation: 103 Mo. 470,15 S.W. 755
• Parties: MOORE et al. v. CITY OF CAPE GIRARDEAU.
• Decision Date: 09 March 1891
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

15 S.W. 755

103 Mo. 470

MOORE et al. v. CITY OF CAPE GIRARDEAU.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

March 9, 1891.

DEDICATION OF STREETS — EVIDENCE.

The petition in an action against a city alleged that plaintiffs owned property abutting on a certain street; that the property could be reached only by such street; and that by reason of the defective condition of such street plaintiffs were unable to use or occupy the property. It did not appear that defendant had by ordinance or by use accepted the alleged street, or had ever by ordinance ordered it to be opened or approved, though it did appear that the city, in leasing property along the alleged street, reserved "a strip of ground sixty feet wide * * * for a street." Held, that the evidence did not show a dedication or acceptance of a street, so as to render the city liable, though it appeared that many years before persons living along the alleged street used the same.

Appeal from circuit court, Cape Girardeau county; H. C. O'BRYAN, Judge.

The petition in this cause is substantially as follows: "Plaintiffs further state that defendant is a municipal corporation, * * * duly and legally incorporated, organized, and existing under and by virtue of an act of the general assembly of the state of Missouri approved March 29, 1872, and of the several acts of which the same was amendatory; and that on the 1st day of February, 1882, they were, and are still, the owners and in possession of the following described real estate: Lot number two, in range A. * * * That upon said lot is situated a large two-story brick building of great value, to-wit, of the value of two thousand dollars. That said house was erected and constructed for the purpose of being used as an ice-house. That said lot and the improvements thereon are reasonably worth three thousand dollars. That Acquamsi or Front or Water street, as it is variously called, is one of the public streets of said city, the defendant herein, and has for fifty years or more been used by the public as such; and within the date last mentioned has been maintained, repaired, and recognized by said city as a thoroughfare for the use of its citizens and the public in general. That the above-described property is situated as set forth in range A, in said city, fronting on said street, and on the west side thereof. That on account and by reason of the encroachments of the Mississippi river, which bounds said street on the east, said property cannot be approached or reached from the north; and said lot not being a corner lot the only way said lot can be reached by footmen or vehicles was by way of said street south of said property. That on and after said 1st day of February, A. D. 1882, defendant willfully neglected and refused, and still willfully fails, neglects, and refuses, to maintain or keep in repair said street, so that the same has, ever since the date last aforesaid, and still is, utterly and wholly impassable in either direction from said property. That immediately south of said property, along which plaintiffs and others had access to said lot, through the willful neglect, carelessness, and utter disregard of the rights of these plaintiffs and...