94 Ky. 163 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1893
delivered the opinion of the court.
Tlie contention, by tlie appellant in this case is, that the statute authorizing the county court to close lateral roads, or what is known as ordinary highways, when running within a certain distance of a turnpike road (one mile), is unconstitutional. It appears from tlie petition filed, in which it is alleged that the closing of a lateral road by the defendants was an interference with the right of the appellant to pass from one part of his land to another, that the road had
The public highways of the State, known as county roads, are opened and maintained for the public, and not for mere individual use, and whenever it may be deemed proper to close, alter or discontinue a county road the power is given to the county court to make such changes as may be conducive to the public wel
■ A private citizen has no right of property in a public road, although it passes over his own land, unless he owns the land itself subject to the easement. If the owner of land abutting on a public road has a right of property in the easement, it necessarily follows that no change or alteration can be made without first making compensation to the owner, as it would be a taking of private property for public use without compensation; but he has no other interest except such as is common to the entire public, and where he is the owner of the land and the road is discontinued, its use then reverts to him to the extent he has title, but no further.
This court in the case of Lexington and Ohio R. Co. v. Applegate, reported in 8 Dana, 294, recognizes the distinction between the streets of a town or city and an ordinary public way. “An ordinary public way,” says the court in that case, “may be discontinued or applied to some other public purpose than that for which it was first established, without any legal liability for pecuniary compensation to the local
The distinction is this : Ordinary highways, or what are termed county roads, are created by law for the public, and the land or its use taken from the owner in the first place by paying him its value; or there may be sometimes such a dedication by the individual owner and an acceptance by the county court, as will create this easement without compensation. The streets of a town or city are acquired hy grant with the implied right of ingress and egress to the abutting lot-owner, the grantor, or the party making the dédication, saying to the owners of lots, this right of ingress and egress you shall have. But not so with an ordinary public road. The State creates the easement for the entire public ; its use is that of the public, one citizen having as much right to this use as the other, and when its abandonment or non-use is deemed necessary for the public good, the county court may discontinue it altogether, and in that tribunal the question must be made. In the case of Campbell Turnpike Company v. Dye, &c., reported in 18 B. M., 761, the construction of this same statute was the matter in controversy. The statute reads': “No lateral road shall be opened to and from the same places now connected by any turnpike, gravel or plank road, or which may hereafter be so connected, as to run within one mile of such road; and -any such lateral road now in use, or which may hereafter be in use, shall, by order of the county court, be
The court, in alluding to .the argument made by counsel as to the individual injury that must result to the owner of the abutting land, expressed the-opinion that no such question could be raised on the-hearing in the county court, the statute being imperative as to discontinuing the road. All the county court could do was to obey the statute. It is true the constitutional question was not raised in that case, but the inconveniences resulting to the land owners were greater in that case than in this, and such as to suggest to court and counsel the- importance of a careful consideration of the question; and besides this court has, since the case referred to, passed upon the rights of the land owner in that class of' cases more than once in manuscript opinions, and while no constitutional question was made, we are-satisfied the statute would have been held valid in those cases, as it must be in this.
Judgment sustaining the demurrer to the petition-' is affirmed.