People ex rel. Van Rensselaer v. Van Alstyne
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from the judgment of the Supreme Court in the third judicial district. This was a common law certiorari to review the decision of referees, appointed by the county judge of Columbia, reversing the decision of the commissioners of highways, and laying out a highway pursuant to the application, which had been denied by the commissioners.
Read the full summary
Appeal from the judgment of the Supreme Court in the third judicial district. This was a common law certiorari to review the decision of referees, appointed by the county judge of Columbia, reversing the decision of the commissioners of highways, and laying out a highway pursuant to the application, which had been denied by the commissioners. The road, as applied for and laid out by the referees, terminated at the north end in what was known as the “mill road,” and at the south end in a road passing the house of Jonas Phillips. It was claimed by the appellants to be a mere cul de sac, on the…
1Opinion of the CourtPorter, J.
The decision was right, upon the merits. The road was laid out between two highways. One of these was unrecorded; but the fact is established, by the proof and the finding, that for more than twenty years it had been used as a public highway, and it therefore became such by force of the statute. (1 R. S. 521, § 100.) If, however, the fact had been otherwise, the authority of the referees to lay out the road would have been equally clear. It was formerly supposed that, by the rules of the common law, a mere oul de sao could not be a highway, open, of right, to all. The contrary doctrine is now…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Commissioners of Highways of Warwick v. Judges of Orange CountyNew York Supreme Court · 1835
- Wiggins v. TallmadgeNew York Supreme Court · 1851
- Bingham v. DisbrowNew York Supreme Court · 1862
3Cited by7 opinions
- Bakery Salvage Corp. v. City of LackawannaNew York Supreme Court · 1965
- In re BarnettNew York Supreme Court · 1877
- In re the Habeas Corpus of BarnettNew York Supreme Court · 1877
- People ex rel. Green v. SmithNew York Supreme Court · 1878
- People ex rel. Spencer v. FullerNew York Supreme Court · 1870
2 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.