Kaufmann v. Philadelphia
Kaufmann v. Philadelphia
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Arch street, in the city of Philadelphia, was originally laid out and opened of the width of sixty-six feet. In 1886 the city by ordinance directed the widening of the street to seventy-two feet, three feet to be added to either side. The ordinance was not to apply at once to properties on which buildings were erected, but all new or altered buildings were to be placed back on the new line established. At that time the St. George’s Hall Association was the owner of a lot with a building thereon, at the South-west corner of Arch and Thirteenth streets, sixty feet in front on Arch street, which was sixty-six feet wide, and extending south on the line of Thirteenth street, one hundred and thirty-seven feet. In 1895 the Association conveyed this lot to Henry C. Lea by deed, in which it was described as being on the South side of
The contention of the appellants is that under the well established rule of law that a conveyance of land bounded on a highway gives the grantee a title to the middle of the highway, if the grantor himself had title to it, and did not expressly or by clear implication reserve it, they acquired title to the strip of land three feet wide on the Arch street front, and cán recover of the city the loss occasioned by being required to recede three feet when they rebuilt. This contention could be sustained if they had bought a lot one hundred and thirty-seven feet in depth, bounded by a street sixty-six feet in width. But in the deed to them and the deed to their grantor, the lot is described as “situate on the South side of Arch street, as widened to the width of seventy-two feet,” and the three feet' taken from the south side of the street is deducted from the depth of the lot. The right the plaintiffs acquired to the land in question was to its use as part of the highway, in. common with the general public, with the rever-, sionary right to the land as a part of the bed of the street in the event that the street should be vacated. This was all their grantor possessed and all that he conveyed to them. The St. George’s Hall Association in 1895 established a new line as the northern boundary of its lot that conformed with the ordinance of 1886 and conveyed according to it. As between the Asso
The fact that the coping and steps of the building extended onto the strip of land included in the widening of the street is unimportant as affecting the rights of the parties, since the encroachment was not beyond the limits of the usual permissive use of city streets.
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.