Stanwood v. City of Malden

This is a petition to recover damages for the discontinuance of a part of Summer Street in Malden, which runs into Florence Street obliquely just opposite the petitioner’s land. The petitioner’s means of access to his estate remain ample, but it is possible, if not probable, that its money value is diminished by diverting the stream of travel which formerly flowed toward it over Summer Street.

The petitioner begins by asking us to overrule Smith v. Boston, 7 Cush. 254, and the cases which have followed it. He cites the English decisions, ending with Metropolitan Board of Works v. McCarthy, L.…