Smith v. City of Beloit

100 N.W. 877, 122 Wis. 396, 1904 Wisc. LEXIS 189
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 27, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 100 N.W. 877 (Smith v. City of Beloit) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. City of Beloit, 100 N.W. 877, 122 Wis. 396, 1904 Wisc. LEXIS 189 (Wis. 1904).

Opinion

Cassoday, C. J.

The questions presented in the voluminous record include some which are necessarily preliminary to the principal question, which, as stated by plaintiff’s counsel, is as to where the lawful boundaries of Public avenue are located.

1. It is Conceded that Crane entered all the lands in controversy November 26, 1838, but that he did not get any patent therefor from the United States until May 9, 1842. The question recurs whether, upon obtaining and recording that patent, the deed which Crane had given to Kidder September 26,1839, and the deed which he had given to Kearney May 14, 1840, vested in the respective grantees therein named the title to the lands therein described. This question was answered in the affirmative by this court nearly fifty years ago. Dillingham v. Fisher, 5 Wis. 475, 478. In that case Pisher claimed title under the same deed from Crane to Kearney as here, and obtained judgment in the trial court, and the same was affirmed in this court. Id. 482. It was there held, in effect, that, although the strict legal title remained in the United States until the issuance of the patent, yet, as Crane had entered the land and paid his money and obtained the register’s certificate of purchase, the entire equitable title and interest vested in him, and the same passed by his deed to Kearney, in whom the legal title became vested by way of relation, immediately upon the patent being issued. The principle upon which that decision was based has frequently been recognized by this court. Cornelius v. Kessel, 58 Wis. 237, 16 N. W. 550; Paige v. Peters, 70 Wis. 178, 182, 35 N. W. 328; Spiess v. Neuberg, 71 Wis. 279, 283, 284, 37 N. W. 417. It is in harmony with the decisions of the supreme court of the United States. Wilcox v. Jackson, 13 Pet. 498, 517; Carter v. Buddy, 166 U. S. 493, 17 Sup. Ct. 640. The title to lot 1, block 46, as designated on Doolittle’s plat, which so became vested in Kearney, afterwards by mesne conveyances from him and by operation of law became vested in the plaintiff before the commencement of this [408]*408action. Upon tbe same principle tbe absolute title to block 47 — as designated on Doolittle’s plat — became vested in Kidder as soon as tbe patent was issued; and thereafter by mesne conveyances from bim and operation of law so mucb of tbat block as abutted on Public avenue as designated on tbat plat became vested in tbe defendants Voorhees, JBurdge, and Greene, respectively, before tbe commencemnt of tbis action. Thus it appears tbat at tbe time tbe patent was issued Crane bad parted with all right, title, and interest in and to any and all lands so conveyed to Kearney and Kidder respectively.

2. It becomes important to determine as to what right, title, or interest, if any, Kearney and Kidder, respectively, acquired by virtue of such deeds and patent to tbe space between blocks 46 and 47 as designated on tbe Doolittle plat. As indicated in tbe statement of facts, Crane and another caused tbe Doolittle plat to be made and recorded September 24, 1839 — two days prior to tbe deed to Kidder, and more than eight months prior to tbe deed to Kearney. Each of those deeds purported to convey certain lands as designated on tbe Doolittle map. About three months after tbe deed to Kearney, Crane and two others caused tbe Hopkins plat to be made and recorded as stated. May 18, 1854, tbis court held tbat those plats were both void as statutory dedications to tbe public of tbe “Public Landing” described therein for want of tbe requisite acknowledgment and certification thereof. Gardiner v. Tisdale, 2 Wis. 153, 185. Tbat was an action of ejectment commenced in November, 1852, to recover a part of tbe “Public Landing” described on such plats as being bounded on tbe south by block 59, on tbe east by Turtle street and Public avenue, on tbe north by block 46, and on tbe west by Rock river, as designated on tbe Doolittle plat, by virtue of a deed executed by Crane to Gardner September 2, 1852, more than ten years after tbe title became vested in Kidder and Kéamey, respectively, as mentioned. Tbe [409]*409judgment in that case was reversed for error, and tbe cause was remanded for a new trial; but there is nothing in the opinion nor the facts in that case having any bearing upon any of the questions here involved, unless it be inferred from the ruling to the effect that the original owner of a public landing, or those claiming under him, could maintain ejectment against a trespasser who constructed a permanent building thereon inconsistent with such public use. In pursuance of that decision, we shall assume, for the purposes of this appeal, that neither the Doolittle plat nor the Hopkins plat constituted a statutory dedication. But as stated in effect by a prominent test-writer, an incomplete or defective ■statutory dedication may be sustained as a common-law dedication, and if the streets or roads marked thereon are accepted by the public, they will become public highways.

“So, even where there is no acceptance on the part of the public, they will be regarded as ways, and will be kept open for the benefit of those who have purchased lots with reference to the location and existence of the streets and roads represented upon the maps or plats. And the right passing to the purchaser is not the mere right that he may Use the street, but that all persons may use it.” Elliott, Roads & S. (2d ed.) •§ 114

Numerous cases are cited in support of such propositions. We only mention a few, in which these was an absence of any statutory dedication: Rusk v. Berlin, 173 Ill. 634, 50 N. E. 1071; Bartlett v. Bangor, 67 Me. 460; Hurley v. Miss. & R. R. B. Co. 34 Minn. 143; Bissell v. N. Y. C. R. Co. 23 N. Y. 61; Carter v. Portland, 4 Oreg. 339; Meier v. P. C. R. Co. 16 Oreg. 500, 19 Pac. 610; McCall v. Davis, 56 Pa. St. 431; Transue v. Sell, 10 5 Pa. St. 604; Ferguson’s Appeal, 117 Pa. St. 426, 11 Atl. 885. Thus, in the Illinois case cited, it was held that:

“Where, after platting land, the owner sells, lots and blocks 'with reference to the streets therein described, both he and his grantees are estopped to deny the legal existence of such [410]*410streets, although there is not a sufficient statutory dedication, owing to the plat not being properly acknowledged. The right of abutting owners to have a public street remain open is not merely that they may use the same, but that all persons may use it as a public highway, free from all claim or interference of the original proprietor, or those claiming under him, inconsistent with such use.”

In the case cited from Maine it was held, in effect, that, where the owner of land sellg one or more lots by reference to a plan made by him, he thereby annexes to each lot sold a right of way in the streets, which neither he nor his successors in title can interrupt or destroy. In the Minnesota case cited it was held that the “dedication of streets and public places, properly designated upon the plat of a survey of a tract of land into lots and blocks, is to be deemed complete upon conveyances being made of lots with reference to such plat, though it be not properly certified for record.” In the New York case cited it was held that:

“As between grantor and grantee the conveyance of a lot bounded upon a street in a city carries the land to the center of the street. ...

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Bluebook (online)
100 N.W. 877, 122 Wis. 396, 1904 Wisc. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-city-of-beloit-wis-1904.