98 Neb. 236 | Neb. | 1915
The controversy in this case is over a strip of ground 20 feet wide, running east and west in block 7, Railroad addition to the village of Leigh, hounded on the north by lots 1 to 6, inclusive, and on the south by lot 7, all in said block 7. The east end of the strip connects with Elm street, and the west end with an alley running north and south through the middle of the block. Plaintiffs instituted this suit in the district court for Colfax county to restrain the defendants Buhman, Hahn and Glandt, as trustees, defendant Lee, as village marshal, and defendant McMullen, as street commissioner, from trespassing upon the strip named, or in any manner interfering with plaintiffs in their exclusive possession thereof. From a judgment granting an injunction as prayed, defendants appeal.
Block 7 was platted July 2, 1886. Subsequently plaintiffs became the owners of the seven lots above referred to, through which the strip in controversy, designated on the plat as an alley, runs. Their contention is that the village never accepted the dedication of this alley, that the public never entered upon the use of it, but that at all times until 1909 the strip had been used by the owners of lots 1 to 7, inclusive, in connection therewith, as one entire body of land, and as such had been improved and built upon; that in June, 1909, the village authorities, by the performance of certain acts, specifically set out, attempted to take possession of and assume control over the strip, which attempt was resisted by plaintiffs; that in April, 1910, the plaintiffs duly executed and filed, in accordance with the provisions of statute, a deed vacating the plat, so far as it affected the seven lots and strip of land in controversy; that thereafter and until December, 1910, defendants desisted from further trespassing upon the
Defendants’ principal contentions are that the deed of vacation was not operative, for the reason that it abridged and destroyed the rights and privileges of other proprietors in the plat; that it seeks to close and obstruct a highway laid out according to law; that it should have been signed by all the owners of the plat, and was not sufficient when signed by only the owners of the tract sought to be vacated. The evidence clearly sustains the judgment of the district court. It shows to our entire satisfaction that the vacation of this strip of land or alley did not in any manner abridge or destroy any of the rights or privileges of other proprietors in the plat. Conceding that the strip of land had been laid out as an alley by the original plat, the village officers and other proprietors within the plat had by their laches become estopped to claim any right to enter upon and take possession of this strip as an alley. For over 20 years after the filing of the plat they had stood by and seen plaintiffs and their grantors in possession
We think further discussion is really unnecessary. First street and Short street on the south, Second street on the north, Main street on the west, Elm street on the east, and the alley running north and south through the middle of, block 7, afford every proprietor of lots in block 7 access to his property.
We are unable to discover any theory upon which we. would be justified in interfering with the judgment of the district court. It is therefore
Affirmed.