Hostetter v. Commonwealth

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Bell,

Plaintiff recovered a substantial verdict in a land damage case arising out of the relocation and widening (in 1947) of a State highway previously known as the New Holland Turnpike in Lancaster County. The real question involved is a narrow one — what was the width of the plaintiff’s property which was taken; and that in turn depends on whether a legal taking (for highway purposes) by the Commonwealth’s predecessor in title, over 100 years ago, was 33 feet or 50 feet.

The records of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Lancaster County show that in 1798 land was taken…