Wolcott v. Whitcomb
Supreme Court of Vermont
Trespass guare clausum. Plea, general issue and special pleas, to which plaintiff replied. Trial by jury, December Term, 1866, Barrett, J., presiding.
Read the full summary
Trespass guare clausum. Plea, general issue and special pleas, to which plaintiff replied. Trial by jury, December Term, 1866, Barrett, J., presiding. The plaintiff introduced evidence to show that the defendant, at divers times, had torn down and removed and destroyed gates erected by the plaintiff on a highway running through his, the plaintiff’s, land and which, the plaintiff’s evidence showed, were necessary to protect his field, as the highway was not fenced on either side. The plaintiff claimed that this was a pent road, and that he had a right to erect and maintain gates where these…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Kellogg, J.
The plaintiff had a right to erect gates and bars on his own land unless this right was taken away by reason of the laying -out and opening of a highway as a pent road over it. All pent roads are public highways, though called in the early statutes private iroads,” — that is to say, they may fee used by all, — but they are not open highways. A road could not be a pent road if it was not shut up or closed at its terminal points ; and the term pent (“ penned, .shut up, confined, or closed,”) is employed to distinguish such a road from an open…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Warren v. BunnellSupreme Court of Vermont · 1839
- Town of Whitingham v. BowenSupreme Court of Vermont · 1850
- Loveland v. Town of BerlinSupreme Court of Vermont · 1854
3Cited by8 opinions
- Pippin v. MaySupreme Court of Arkansas · 1906
- Bashor v. BowmanTennessee Supreme Court · 1915
- French v. Town of BarreSupreme Court of Vermont · 1886
- Browne v. ConnorSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1941
- Steven Daiello v. Town of Vernon v. Dale A. Merritt and Brenda MerrittSupreme Court of Vermont · 2022
3 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.