148 Pa. 367 | Pa. | 1892
Opinion by
The plaintiffs’ deed to Hohenadel was made in July, 1873. It conveyed lots Nos. 51 to 55 inclusive, on “ a certain plan of building lots in the 28th ward of the city of Philadelphia, prepared for John and James Dobson in May, 1873, by John H. Levering, surveyor of the 8th district of Philadelphia.” The lots were also described by metes and bounds, as one piece of land, and as bounded on the southwest by the Philadelphia & Norristown Railroad. At this time the city plan of streets in the 8th district of Philadelphia showed a plotted street called “ The Philadelphia & Norristown Railroad,” having a breadth of one hundred and twenty feet. In the centre of this street was the actual line or right of way of the railroad, having a breadth of sixty-six feet, or thirty-three feet on each side of the centre line of the track. On each side of the right of way was a strip twenty-seven feet wide, which was intended by the city as a public street or highway. In laying out the lots for the plaintiffs Mr. Levering recognized and adopted the line of the street as it appeared at the time on the city plan, and many of the lots were made to front upon it. Among these were some of the lots bought by Hohenadel; and at that time the city plan, the plan of lots made by Levering, and the deed to defendant, were in exact accord, showing the line of his lots to be twenty-seven feet beyond the right of way of the railroad company, and sixty feet from the centre of the Philadelphia & Norristown Railroad street, as plotted by the city. We fully agree with the position of the appellee that the deed from the plaintiffs to him was in its legal operation a deed to the centre of the street along the entire street front of the lots conveyed: Paul v. Carver, 26 Pa. 224; Transue v. Sell, 105 Pa. 604. It is no matter that the street had not been opened according to law by the city. When a proprietor of land lays it out in lots which he afterwards conveys according to a plan which shows that the lots are upon a street, the conveyance of the lots bounded on the street is a dedication of the land, covered by