124 So. 269 | Miss. | 1929
A thoroughfare, whether it be a road or a street or an alley, in order to be considered in law as a public way so as to charge the local authorities with the duty of maintenance, must have been accepted as such by the legally constituted authorities of or for the political subdivision of the state sought, in the particular case, to be charged with neglect. Acceptance may be formal or it may be implied, but it is settled in our state that mere user by the public, without more, is not sufficient to constitute an implied acceptance. And in the case at bar user, in a limited way, by members of the public is the utmost extent of the evidence, save that it is shown that far back in the recesses of the so-called alley the city has maintained an electric light, and that at regular intervals the city employees have entered therein on foot to remove garbage. But these are functions that are to be *173 ascribed to the duties of police and of public health, not to that of maintenance of public ways.
The case, therefore, is controlled by Gulf S.I.R. Co. v. Adkinson,
Upon the record before us, the motion for a peremptory instruction in behalf of the city should have been sustained.
Reversed and remanded.