Owens v. Hockett
| Decision Date | 15 October 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. A-3632,A-3632 |
| Parties | OWENS et al. v. HOCKETT. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Wallace Hughston and Paul Worden, McKinney, for petitioners.
Dwight Whitwell, McKinney, Gerald E. Stockard, Denton, for respondent.
Petitioners instituted this suit against the respondent, R. M. Hockett, for damages and for mandatory injunction to require Hockett to remove a fence which was erected by him across a road on or about April 4, 1951, and to remove certain obstructions placed in the road, and to 'grade, smooth and level' said road, and 'to put said road in as good and passable condition as it was immediately prior to April 4, 1951'. Petitioners alleged in their petition four separate and distinct theories as a basis for their contention that they were entitled to the relief prayed for. They alleged (a) that they had acquired a private easement by prescription and thereby were entitled to use the road without interference; (b) that the public had acquired a public easement by prescription; (c) that the road in question had been dedicated to the public for a road and that such dedication had been accomplished by the acts of defendant and his predecessors in title and by the acceptance of such dedication by the public, and (d) that the petitioners were entitled to a way of necessity.
All theories were submitted to the jury. The jury findings were favorable to the petitioners on theories (a), (b) and (c), and upon such findings the trial court rendered judgment for the petitioners. The trial court's judgment was reversed and rendered in favor of the respondent, the injunction was dissolved, and the mandatory injunction was set aside by the Court of Civil Appeals. 247 S.W.2d 412. This Court granted writ of error.
The first point in error in the application for the writ is that the Court of Civil Appeals erred in holding that there was no evidence to support the jury findings that the road had been dedicated as a public road.
The second and third points in error in the application are to the effect that the Court of Civil Appeals erred in holding there was no evidence to support the jury findings that petitioners have a private easement in the road in question by prescription, and that the public had acquired a right to use the road as a public road by prescription.
The judgment of the trial court should be sustained if there is evidence to support either of the theories of the petitioner. We have examined the entire record and have reached the conclusion that the evidence supports the finding of the jury on the issue of dedication. The evidence has been viewed in the light most favorable to the petitioners, discarding all adverse evidence, and we have given credit to all evidence favorable to the verdict of the jury. It, therefore, becomes unnecessary for us to decide the remaining two points of error.
Our courts recognize the doctrine that a dedication of land to public use need not be shown by deed, nor by public use for any particular length of time. It is sufficient if the record shows unequivocal acts or declarations of the landowner, dedicating same to public use, and where others act on the faith of such dedication, the landowner will be estopped to deny the dedication, or to make any future use of the property inconsistent with any purpose for which the land was dedicated. Common-law dedications, such as the one here involved, are subdivided into two classes, express and implied. 'In both it is necessary that there should be an appropriation of land by the owner to public use, in the one case by some express manifestation of his purpose to devote the land to the public purpose to devote the land to the public conduct from which the law will imply such an intent.' Elliott, Roads and Streets (2d Ed.) p. 121; 26 C.J.S., Dedication, § 13, p. 65; Oswald v. Grenet, 22 Tex. 94; Wolf v. Brass, 72 Tex. 133, 12 S.W. 159; Evans v. Scott, 37 Tex.Civ.App. 373, 83 S.W. 874; Tribble v. Dallas Ry. & Terminal Co., Tex.Civ.App., 13 S.W.2d 933, writ refused.
Mr. Elliott further says:
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...if the intent is properly inferable from the circumstances in evidence. Harger v. Cason, 223 S.W.2d at 246; Owens v. Hockett, 151 Tex. 503, 251 S.W.2d 957, 958 (1952); Wilson, 425 S.W.2d at 852-53. However, the intention to dedicate must be shown by something more than an omission or failur......
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...an omission or failure to act or acquiesce on the part of the owner.' One of the leading cases on the subject is Owens v. Hockett, 151 Tex. 503, 251 S.W.2d 957, 958 (1952), wherein the court 'Our courts recognize the doctrine that a dedication of land to public use need not be shown by deed......
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