Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad v. Mayor of Baltimore

131 Md. 368
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedNovember 14, 1917
StatusPublished

This text of 131 Md. 368 (Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad v. Mayor of Baltimore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad v. Mayor of Baltimore, 131 Md. 368 (Md. 1917).

Opinion

Burke, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

A jury of inquisition in the Baltimore City Court found that the property of the appellant situated at the southeast comer of Boston and Patuxent streets (now called Linwood avenue) would be benefited to the amount of fifteen hundred dollars by the condemning and opening of Linwood avenue for a width of sixty feet from Boston street to the waters of the Patapseo Biver. The avenue, which is about three hundred feet long, was being opened under Ordinance TSTo. 284, approved June 9, 1913. The Canton Company of Baltimore on May 1, 1846, while owner of the land now forming the bed of linwood avenue, granted and conveyed to Alfred Munson, his heirs and assigns, the lot of ground now owned [370]*370by the appellant and against which the assessment complained of in this case was made. The deed described the lot granted as follows: “Beginning for the same at the point formed by the intersection of the east side of Patuxent street with the south side of Elliott street, and running thence easterly bounding on Elliott street 45 15/100 perches to Canton street, as laid out upon the Canton Company’s plat; thence hounding on Canton street southwardly 35 8/10 perches to a point on Boston street, so as to intersect a line drawn north, northeastwardly up the west side of that part of Canton street laid out upon the Canton Company’s plat at right angles with Boston street; then reversing the line so drawn and hounding thereon southwestwardly 32 3/10 perches to the Port Warden’s Line; thence hounding on that line and parallel to Boston street, north 23 degrees, west 48 3/10 perches, to intersect a line drawn south, southwestwardly along the east side of that part of Patuxent street laid out upon the Canton Company’s plat at right angles to Boston street; then reversing the line so drawn, and bounding on Patuxent street north northeastwardly 32 3/10 perches to a point oh Boston street so as to intersect a line drawn southwardly along the east side of that part of Patuxent street laid out at right angles with Elliott street; then reversing the line so drawn and. hounding thereon along the east side of Patuxent street northwardly 20 3/10 perches to the place of beginning.” This lot by mesne conveyances passed from Alfred Munson to Edward Brooke, who on the 28th day of February, 1817, conveyed the lot to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, the predecessor in title of the appellant. In the Brooke deed the property is described as binding “along the east side of Patuxent street.”

. Patuxent street,-now known as Linwood avenue, has never been accepted or opened by the public authorities, hut under the long established law of this State there can be no doubt that under tbe .terms of the deeds from the Canton Company to Munson and from Brooke to the appellant’s predecessors in [371]*371title the grantees acquired a right of way over the bed of Patuxent street or Linwood avenue from Boston street to the waters of the Patapsco River.

It was said in Hawley v. Baltimore, 33 Md. 270, that: “The law is now too well settled to admit of any doubt, that if the owner of a piece of land lays it out in lots and streets, and sells lots calling to bind on snch streets, he thereby dedicates the streets so laid out to public use. This rule is founded upon the doctrine of implied covenants, and the dedication will be held to be coextensive with the right of way acquired as an easement by the purchaser. It is upon the implied covenant in the grant to him, that the dedication to public use rests, and such dedication must necessarily be measured by the limits of the right he has acquired by virtue of his grant. * * * The true doctrine is, as we understand it, that the purchaser of a lot calling to bind on a street, not yet opened by the public authorities, is entitled to a right of way over it, if it is of the lands of his vendor, to its full extent and dimensions only until it reaches some other street or public way. To this extent will the vendor be held by the implied covenant of his, deed and no further.” White v. Flannigan, 1 Md. 529; Moale v. Baltimore, 5 Md. 321; Tinges v. Baltimore, 51 Md. 600; Baltimore v. Frick, 82 Md. 77.

It was said in Flersheim v. Baltimore, 85 Md. 489, that: “The dedication takes placo by force of the terms of the deed. It confers on the grantee the right to the advantages of a public street binding on bis property. Of course the grantor is not under an obligation to construct the street; but the grantee has a right of way over the bed of the street described in the deed, and the right to use it as a street. This easement relieves him from the burden of paying benefits when the street is condemned and opened by public authority. It also necessarily enures to the- benefit of the public. The right acquired is to a public street; to be used by the general public, subject to the control of the municipal authority, with the incidental advantages which it may bestow upon [372]*372it by the expenditure of the corporate money. The dedication of the land of the grantor extends to the nearest street or public way.” “But the dedication of the street to public use by the plats and deeds does not make the street a public highway. ’Such a conveyance does not become' final and irrevocable until there has been an acceptance of it on the part of the public authorities. Baltimore v. Broumel, 86 Md. 153; Valentine v. Hagerstown, 86 Md. 486; New Windsor v. Stocksdale, 95 Md. 212.

“It is said in Kennedy v. Cumberland, 65 Md. 514, that ‘any individual may lay out a thoroughfare through his land, but such dedication does mot impose upon the county or municipality the duty of improving it or keeping it in repair. There must be an acceptance of the dedication before this duty can arise.’

“Rot only is such an acceptance necessary, but it must be proved by the party who asserts the way to be a public way; and it may be proved when expressed by the record, or it may be implied from repairs made and ordered, or knowingly paid for by the authority which has the legal power to adopt a street or highway, or from long user by the public.” Whittington v. Commissioners of Crisfield, 121 Md. 387.

The contentions of the appellant are: first, that it is entitled, under the deeds above referred to, to an easement or right of way over the bed of Linwood avenue, and, therefore, under the decision in Flerslieim’s case, supra, it is relieved from the burden of paying benefits when the avenue is condemned and opened by the City; secondly, that under ordinance Ro-. 284, under which the proceedings for opening the avenue were taken, it could not be assessed benefits which would accrue to the lot from the grading or paving of the avenue, because the ordinance did not authorize the Commissioners for opening streets to grade or pave the avenue, but limited their power to “the condemnation and opening of said avenue.” The position taken by the City is that there was evidence in the case legally sufficient to show that the easement of way claimed by the appellánt had been lost by aban[373]*373donment or adverse user by the Canton Company and its tenants, and, therefore, the appellant was liable to assessment for benefits. There are no exceptions to testimony, and the contentions of the parties are presented by the action of the trial Court upon the prayers and "special exceptions.

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The People v. . the Albany and Vermont Railroad Company
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Eddy v. Chace
5 N.E. 306 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1886)
Moale v. Mayor of Baltimore
5 Md. 314 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1853)
Hawley v. Mayor of Baltimore
33 Md. 270 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1870)
Vogler v. Geiss
51 Md. 407 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1879)
Tinges v. Mayor of Baltimore
51 Md. 600 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1879)
Kennedy v. Mayor & City Council
65 Md. 514 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1888)
Mayor of Baltimore v. Frick
33 A. 435 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1895)
Flersheim v. Mayor of Baltimore
36 A. 1098 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1897)
Mayor of Baltimore v. Broumel
37 A. 648 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1897)
Valentine v. Mayor of Hagerstown
38 A. 931 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1897)

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Bluebook (online)
131 Md. 368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/philadelphia-baltimore-washington-railroad-v-mayor-of-baltimore-md-1917.