Henderson v. Young
Henderson v. Young
Opinion of the Court
Opinion- by
The single question raised in this case is whether a deed describing property as bounded by a street plotted on the city plan but not opened, conveys to the grantee an easement over the bed of the proposed street, and entitles him to a right of passage even though the street is not opened and is subsequently vacated by the city.
In 1886, John Welsh, owner of a tract of land situated in Philadelphia sold a part of the property, including the lot here in question, to plaintiff’s predecessor in title by deed which described one of the boundaries on the land as extending “to the northeast side of Arbutus avenue thence along the said side of Arbutus avenue,” etc., “together with all the......ways, streets, alleys, passages ......rights, liberties, privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances” belonging to the premises. At the time of the conveyance Arbutus street was on the city plan but not opened, and the land over which it was plotted, as well as other land abutting thereon, belonged to the grantor. Plaintiffs acquired title in 1891, at which time there was a fence along the line of Arbutus street in which was a gate affording access to the street. Other parts of the property of John Welsh abutting on and including the bed of the street, have passed into the hands
Had Welsh, the common gi*antor, laid out his property in lots abutting on a street in accordance with a plan of his making, neither he nor his privies in title could be heard to deny to a subsequent purchaser of a lot abutting thereon the right to a continued existence and use of the street: Dobson v. Hohenadel, 148 Pa. 367; O’Donnell v. Porter Co., 238 Pa. 495; Shetter v. Welzel, 242 Pa. 355. Such, however, is not this case. The trial judge found, and in fact it was agreed between-counsel at the trial, that Welsh never plotted or adopted the street in question as part of the development of his property, consequently the conclusion of the trial judge that a reference to the street as a boundary conveyed no easement over it other than that which would follow as a result of the subsequent action of the city in opening it as plotted to public use, is amply sustained by the authorities. The distinction between the case where the owner of land lays property out in lots abutting on a street of his creation, and one where he merely recognizes in his conveyance a street plotted by a municipality is pointed out in Tesson v. Porter Co., 238 Pa. 504, where the earlier cases are fully reviewed. The following excerpt from the opinion is particularly applicable here (pages 509, 510) : “If anything is to be regarded as settled, it is that, when one who is the owner of a tract of land in a municipality cuts it up into lots and sells them as laid out on a plan which he has adopted, showing streets and alleys thereon, there is not only an implied covenant by him to the owner of each lot that the streets and alleys, as they ap
Tesson v. Porter was followed in Bell v. Pittsburgh Steel Co., 243 Pa. 83, where it appeared that although the entire plan of the borough had originally been plotted by a private company it was formally adopted by the in
Inasmuch as the obstructions objected to are not on that part of the vacated street on which plaintiffs’ property abuts, we deem it unnecessary to either discuss or decide the question to whom belonged the bed of the street after its vacation by the city.
The decree of the court below dismissing plaintiffs’ bill is affirmed with cost to appellee.
Reference
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- Beal property — Easements—Conveyance of land abutting on street plotted but not opened — Subsequent vacation — Equity—Injunction — Refusal. 1. A deed describing property as bounded by a street plotted on a city plan but not opened does not convey to the grantee an easement over the bed of the proposed street or entitle him to a right of passage where the street is never opened and is subsequently vacated by the city. 2. Where in the trial of a proceeding in equity to restrain interference with plaintiff’s alleged easement over a street bounding his property it appeared that the deed conveying the property in question to plaintiff’s, predecessor in title described the premises as extending to the side of a named street which at the time was plotted on the city plan but not opened and that other property of said grantor abutting on and including the bed of the street had passed into the hands of the various defendants who were using the street for lawns, trees, shrubbery, fences and buildings, and where it appeared that the street had been formally vacated and stricken from the city plan, and there was no evidence that ¡said grantor had ever plotted the said street on a plan made by him or adopted it as part of a development of an abutting tract, but merely used the street plotted by the city as a boundary in the conveyance to the plaintiff’s predecessor in title, a bill to restrain interference with plaintiff’s alleged easement over the street was properly dismissed. Tesson' v. Porter Co., 238 Pa. 504; Bell v. Steel Co., 243 Pa. 83; and Shetter v. Welzel, 242 Pa. 355, applied and explained.