Dunham v. . Williams
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from the Supreme Court. This was an action of ejectment for the recovery of a portion of the bed of an abandoned road which formerly led from Jamaica and Elatbush to the Brooklyn Ferry. The canse was tried at the Kings Circuit, and a verdict was directed for the Plaintiffs. The material facts were undisputed, and they are sufficiently stated in the opinion. The judgment on the verdict having been affirmed, the Defendaij^s appealed to this Court.
1Opinion of the CourtPobteR, J.
The Plaintiffs owned the premises on the west side of the road, and they claimed half the road-bed on the ground that, in the grants through which they deduced title, their -lands were bounded on the highway.
It is a familiar rule of law that, in such a case, the adjacent proprietor is prima facie owner of the soil, subject to the easement in favor of the public. It is founded on the rational presumption that the ground was originally taken from the adjoining owners, and for the sole purpose of being used as a thoroughfare (Stiles v. Curtis, 4 Day, 333, 336; Woolrych on Ways, 5).
A deed bounded…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Stiles v. CurtisSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1810
3Cited by46 opinions
- Fay v. New YorkSupreme Court of the United States · 1947
- Haberman v. . BakerNew York Court of Appeals · 1891
- Neil v. Independent Realty Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1927
- In re RobbinsSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1885
- Kings County Fire Ins. Co. v. . StevensNew York Court of Appeals · 1882
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