78 Iowa 372 | Iowa | 1889
Plaintiff owns and resides upon a farm which includes the west one-half and. northeast quarter of the northeast quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 8, .township 87 north, of range 3 east, and defendant owns all the northwest quarter of the same section, excepting a schoolhouse site. Plaintiff claims that there is a duly-established public highway through the northern and northeastern part of defendant’s land, which the latter has obstructed by building fences across it; that said obstructions interfered with the free and proper use of plaintiff’s premises, and that in consequence thereof he has sustained special damages. Defendant denies that the alleged highway was ever established, and claims that he had been in open, notorious, continued and adverse possession of the land over which the alleged highway passes, under claim and color of title, for more than ten years prior to the commencement of this action ; that if a highway exists, as claimed by plaintiff, then his interest therein is not different from that of the general public, and he is not entitled to maintain this action ; that plaintiff has Obstructed said highway, and by reason of that fact is now estopped from complaining of the acts of defendant in question. The court below found that a highway had been established, as claimed