In re City of New York

McLaughlin (Charles B.), J.

This is a condemnation proceeding for the purpose of acquiring land wholly under water and in separate ownership from the abutting upland, all of which is owned in fee simple absolute by the city of New York. The locus is Ward’s island, formerly called Great Barn island.

In 1806 five persons became the owners of the upland of this island. In 1807, at the request of these five owners, this island was surveyed by a surveyor named William Bridges. He laid it out in seventy-seven lots, all abutting on four different roads, and fifty-two of them abutted on the waters of…