Phillips v. Dunkirk, Warren & Pittsburg Railroad
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Warren county: No. 284 to January Term 1874. This was an action of ejectment, commenced August 17th 1872, by D. C. Phillips against the Dunkirk, Warren & Pittsburg Railroad Company, fpr a piece of land, about .52 perches in length and 25 feet in width, belonging to the plaintiff, and adjoining his other land, over which a public road, formerly a turnpike, had been laid and opened, and which was afterwards occupied by the defendants’…
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Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Warren county: No. 284 to January Term 1874. This was an action of ejectment, commenced August 17th 1872, by D. C. Phillips against the Dunkirk, Warren & Pittsburg Railroad Company, fpr a piece of land, about .52 perches in length and 25 feet in width, belonging to the plaintiff, and adjoining his other land, over which a public road, formerly a turnpike, had been laid and opened, and which was afterwards occupied by the defendants’ railroad. After the appropriation of the road by the defendants for their railroad, the public no longer used the road, hut…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Gordon
The land of the plaintiff was subservient only to the public right of way; of the right to the soil he was never divested, but only of the surface thereof, so far as was required for the public convenience. As soon as the common road was vacated, either by legal process or by abandonment, the right to such occupancy revested in the owner of the fee; Lewis v. Jones, 1 Barr 336; Chess v. Manown, 3 Watts 219; Chambers v. Fury, 1 Yeates 167.
It is certain then, that a private individual would have had no right without the consent of the owner, to have occupied the land in controversy, by permanent…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Case of "the Philadelphia & Trenton Rail Road"Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1840
- Chambers v. FurrySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1792
- Chess v. ManownSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1834
3Cited by15 opinions
- Jones v. Erie & Wyoming Valley R. R.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1892
- Huddleston v. City of EugeneOregon Supreme Court · 1899
- Valmont Developing Co. v. RosserSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1929
- Foley v. Beech Creek Extension R. R.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1925
- Georgia Railroad & Banking Co. v. Mayor of Union PointSupreme Court of Georgia · 1904
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