138 Tenn. 381 | Tenn. | 1917
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This suit was brought by Mrs. Groans in the criminal and law court of Morgan county to recover damages for the obstruction of a right of way. The circuit judge, sitting without the intervention of a jury, awarded her $90 damages. Prom this judgment the county appealed to the court of civil appeals, in which court the judgment was reversed and the suit dismissed. The case is before us upon writs of certiorari. The facts are these:
Mrs. Goans is the owner of a small tract of land abutting on a road which leads from the main Wartburg road through the lands of Duncan to her place. She has no other means of access to the main turnpike road than this way. There is evidence to show that the road leading by the premises of Mrs. Goans has been in existence more than twenty years. One witness says that he has known the road since 1884, and the public generally has traveled it continuously since that time as a matter of right. The road has not been worked by the county, so far as the evidence discloses. "When trees would fall across the road, they would not be removed, but travelers along the road would go around the trees and then back into the old way. It was traveled by foot, horse, and vehicle travelers. There has been continuously a plainly marked road leading from the main
Twenty years’ adverse user will establish a right of way either in the public or in private persons. L. & N. Ry. Co. v. Hays, 11 Lea, 382, 47 Am. Rep., 291; Ferrell v. Ferrell, 1 Baxt., 329, and cases cited.
Therefore the question arising is whether Mrs. Groans, not abutting upon the main Wartburg road, has such a right therein as to recover damages for the obstruction of her way to this road. We are of opinion that she has. An investigation of the cases shows that the authorities are in hopeless conflict. It is not possible to reconcile them or to extract from them any harmonious reasoning upon which a general rule could be founded. The great weight of authority is to the effect that a member of the general public, showing special damages, can recover for an obstruction of a public road. Mrs.. Goans has suffered special damages within the meaning of the authorities. As stated, the point at which the obstructed road enters the main
It results that the judgment of the court of civil appeals is reversed, and that the circuit judge is affirmed.