40 Barb. 65 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1863
The question to be determined in this case is, whether, when the plaintiff conveyed the lots abutting on the premises in question, he parted with his title to such premises ; and that depends upon the question whether those premises can properly be regarded as a street. If it was designed by the plaintiff as a street, lane, alley or way for ingress and egress in order to afford communication between the lots abutting upon it and Jones street, which was one of the public streets of the city of Rochester, the law is settled that the conveyance of those lots by the plaintiff carried the grantees to the middle or centre of the
After a good deal of hesitation, I have come to the conclusion that when the plaintiff laid out and plotted his tract, which includes the premises in question, he intended that space of land to be, what he has designated it, on the map, a park, and not a mere passage way leading by and to the adjoining lots; at least that such was his primary and leading object, and that when he afterwards conveyed the adjoining lots, the presumption is that his intention was the same. I admit that a part of his design was to afford access to the contiguous lots ; but that, it seems to me, was subordinate and incidental to the principal and leading object. He had the unquestionable right to devote it to such lawful purposes and uses as he chose. He declares, in substance, that he designed it as a “park.” No definition of that word will describe a street or passage way. One of Webster’s definitions of the word “park” is, “an enclosed' place in cities, for exercise or amusement.” His other definitions of the same word are inapplicable. It is the usual,
We are to inquire for the plaintiff’s intention at the time of the allotment of his tract. It is said that this was not a
If it was essential, we should intend that his purpose was that it should in due time be enclosed. There is another consideration equally potent with any of those stated. Suppose the plaintiff, after he had made the allotment and recorded the map, had conveyed lot number 24 by the same description as used in the description of those which he did •convey, as stated in the case. That lot is bounded on the east by Jones street, and on the south by the premises in question. According to the theory of the defense the gran-, tee would take to the centre of the premises. And' suppose the plaintiff, at the same time or afterwards, should convey lot number 28, lying opposite number 24 and bounded on the east by Jones street, by a similar description except the number ; by the same theory, the grantee in the last conveyance would take to the same centre on the south side; so that all the other lots bounding on the premises in question would become completely shut out from any public street or highway. This, it seems to me, could never have been the intention, and cannot be the operation of the conveyances of the lots adjacent to the premises in question.
I have been somewhat embarrassed in the foregoing views by the case of Bissell v. these defendants, (supra.) I think, however, this case can be fairly distinguished from that. In the Bissell case the premises sought to be recovered were represented and designated on the map as Erie street, and as running through from Kent to Jones street. Mumford, under whom the plaintiff claimed, sold his lots adjoining the piece designated on the map as Erie street, by the numbers and sections according to the allotment and survey of the whole tract. The court of appeals held that Mumford’s grantees were estopped from denying that the piece of land in question was a street. That as it was named on the map and represented thereon as a street communicating or open
If the foregoing conclusions are correct, the judgment should be reversed and a new trial ordered, with costs to abide the event.
Ordered accordingly.
Welles, Johnson and J. C. Smith, Justices.]