People ex rel. Scott v. Ricketts
| Decision Date | 25 February 1911 |
| Citation | 248 Ill. 428,94 N.E. 71 |
| Parties | PEOPLE ex rel. SCOTT, County Collector, v. RICKETTS. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Champaign County Court; Thomas J. Roth, Judge.
Action by the People, on the relation of John A. Scott, County Collector, for judgment against land for taxes, in which A. D. Ricketts appeared and objected. From a judgment for taxes, the latter appeals. Affirmed.
A. E. Campbell, for appellant.
F. A. Coggeshall, State's Atty. (A. D. Mulliken, of counsel), for appellee.
The county court of Champaign county rendered judgment against two tracts of land in Davidson Place addition to the city of Champaign, and the question presented by this appeal is whether or not those tracts are exempt from taxation. The addition, which contains 23 lots, was laid out in 1901 upon a tract of about 10 acres, by a plat made, certified, acknowledged, and recorded in conformity to the statute and approved by the city council, upon which appeared a tract of irregular shape, approximately 360 feet long and 218 feet wide, marked ‘Davidson Park,’ and surrounded by streets, and another rectangular tract, about 180 feet long and 50 feet wide, marked ‘Tennis Court.’ In his acknowledgment of the plat the owner included the following certificate: ‘I do hereby dedicate the streets of said subdivision to the city of Champaign and state of Illinois for street purposes, reserving the right, in the first instance, to improve the same at my own expense, and I do hereby dedicate the park and tennis ground for and to the use of the occupants of said subdivision, the part for a park and the tennis ground for a playground.’
If these tracts are ‘public grounds used exclusively for public purposes,’ the property of the city, they are exempt from taxation. By virtue of the statute the plat operated as a conveyance of such portions of the premises as are marked or noted as donated or granted to the public or any person, religious society, corporation, or body politic, and the premises intended for any street, alley, way, common, or other public use vested in the city for such use. No doubt exists in regard to the streets and alleys. The plat conveyed them to the city; but, so far as the park and tennis court are concerned, the plat and certificate are restricted, and are entirely consistent with the strictly private use of these tracts by the residents of the addition. If the occupants of these lots see fit, there is nothing to prevent their fencing the park and tennis court, excluding the public entirely, and devoting the ground to their own private purposes. The case is like that of McChesney v. People, 99 Ill. 216. The plat of Dunham's subdivision in that case purported to dedicate a tract of land in the following language: ‘This place is dedicated to the trustees of the town of Hyde Park as a park, by the name of Madison...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
President And Fellows of Middlebury College v. Central Power Corporation of Vermont
... ... economic conditions and needs of people must have attention ... 5. To ... constitute a ... a small locality. People v. Ricketts, 248 Ill. 428, ... 430, 94 N.E. 71; Cleveland, Cin., Chgo. & St. L. Ry ... 83, 85, ... 72 N.E. 624; State Pub. Utility's Comm. ex rel. Macon ... County Tel. Co. v. The Bethany Mut. Tel. Assn., 270 Ill ... ...
-
People ex rel. Tuohy v. City of Chicago
...Sholl v. German Coal Co., 118 Ill. 427, 10 N.E. 199, 201,59 Am.St.Rep. 379. Other definitions will be found in People ex rel. Scott v. Ricketts, 248 Ill. 428, 94 N.E. 71;State Public Utilities Com. v. Monarch Refrigerating Co. 267 Ill. 528, 108 N.E. 716, Ann.Cas.1916A, 528;State Public Util......
-
Kanousis v. Lasham Cartage Co.
...* * *.’ [248 Ill. 422, 94 N.E. 70.] In asserting that the instruction had been approved in numerous other cases, the court said (248 Ill. 427,94 N.E. 71): ‘In all of those cases it was held not to be regarded as an instruction stating the law as to negligence, but simply as one relating to ......
-
Humbird Lumber Co. v. Public Utilities Commission
...Nampa & Meridian Irr. Dist. v. Briggs, 27 Idaho 84, 147 P. 75; Bartee Tie Co. v. Jackson, 281 Ill. 452, 117 N.E. 1007; People v. Ricketts, 248 Ill. 428, 94 N.E. 71; State Public Utility Com. v. Bethany Mutual Assn., 270 Ill. 183, Ann. Cas. 1917B, 485, 110 N.E. 334; Leavitt v. Lassen I. Co.,......