124 Md. 635 | Md. | 1915
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, on the 9th of June, 1913, passed Ordinance Ro. 284 for the opening- of Linwood Ave. from Boston St. to the waters of the Patapsco River. Linwood avenue was formerly called Patuxent street, and the Commissioners for Opening- Streets in discharge of their duties under said ordinance allowed the Canton Company of Baltimore nominal' damages for the bed of the street upon the theory that the Canton Company had dedicated the street, and assessed nominal benefits against the lot on the southeast comer of Linwood avenue and Boston street now owned by the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Bail-road Company. The Canton Company appealed to the Baltimore City Oourt, and that Court allowed the Canton Company damages to the amount of $15,000.00. The appeal of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore is number 21 of the October Term of this Oourt. The City appealed from the assessment of nominal benefits against the lot of the Railroad Company to the Baltimore City Court, and this appeal is from the judgment of that Court fixing the benefits at $2,000.
Fourteen exceptions were reserved by the defendant during the trial, but those relied upon and pressed in this Court are the tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth.
The defendant, the Railroad Company, offered in evidence the deed from Peter Cooper to the Canton Company of Baltimore, dated April 18th, 1831, and the deeds, etc., of the successive owners of the lot in question down to and including the deed from Edward Brooke to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, dated February 28th, 1877, and the Act of 1902, authorizing a consolidation of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company and the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, to whose rights in the lot in question the appellant succeeded. The refusal of the Court below to admit these deeds in evi
There is an .agreement in the record that the Court in considering this case may refer to the deeds offered in evidence .as set out in the record of the case of Baltimore City v. The Canton Company of Baltimore, ante, page 620, and in the lease from the Canton Company of Baltimore to Alfred Munson, dated March 22nd, 1843, and the deed from the Canton. Company of Baltimore to Alfred Munson, dated May 1st, 1846, the property leased and conveyed is described ;as follows: .
“Beginning for the same at the point formed by the intersection of the east side of Patuxent Street with the south side of Elliott Street, and running thence eastwardly, bounding on Elliott Street, 45 perches and fifteen hundredths of a perch to Canton Street, as laid out upon the Canton Company’s plat; thence bounding on Canton Street, southwardly 35 perches and 8 tenths of a perch to a point on Boston Street, so as to intersect a line drawn north northeastwardly up the west side of that part of Canton Street laid out upon the Canton Company’s plat at right angles with Boston Street; then reversing the line so drawn and bounding thereon, south southwestwardly 32 perches and 3 tenths of a perch to the Port Warden’s line; thence bounding on that line and parallel to Boston Street, north 73 degrees' west 48 perches and 3 tenths of a perch to intersect a line drawn south southwestward*639 ly along tlie east side of that part of Patuxent Street, laid out upon the Canton Company’s plat, at right angles to Boston Street; then reversing the line so drawn and hounding on Patuxent. Street, north northeastwardly 32 perches and 3 tenths of a perch to a point on Boston Street, so as to intersect a line drawn southwardly along the east side of that part of Patuxent Street, laid out at right angles with Elliott Street, then reversing the line so drawn and hounding thereon, along the east side of Patuxent Street, northwardly 20 porches and 3 tenths of a perch to the place of beginning.”
The deed referred to from Edward Brooke to the Bail road Company contains the following description of the land thereby conveyed:
“All that piece or parcel of ground situate in Baltimore City in the State of Maryland, and described as follows, that is to say: Beginning for the same at the southeast corner or intersection of Boston and Patuxent Streets and running thence and bounding on the southwest side of Boston Street, south seventy-two degrees four hundred and sixty-two and six-tenths feet, thence southwesterly parallel with Patuxent Street, five hundred feet, more or less, to the Port Warden’s line, thence northwesterly binding on the Port Warden’s line, four hundred and sixty-two and six-tenths feet, and thence northeasterly and along the east side of Patuxent Street five hundred feet, more or less, to the place of beginning.”
It is clear upon the many cases in this State that if the bed of Patuxent street was owned and retained by the Canton Company of Baltimore at tlie time it executed the deed and lease referred to above, the deed and lease, with the plat mentioned therein, or without the plat, if Patuxent street is susceptible of definite location and description, was evidence tending to establish a dedication of Patuxent street. White
It is true the map referred to in the Canton Company’s lease and deed was not offered in evidence in this case, nor was there any other map or evidence to show the location, etc., of Patuxent street produced, and it does not clearly appear from the record in this case that at the time the Canton Company executed the lease and deed referred to it owned and retained the bed of Patuxent street, but the defendant was not bound to offer all its evidence at once, and after the refusal of the Court beloAv to admit the deeds it would have been of no avail to offer the map or other evidence of the location, &c., of Patuxent street, or that the Canton Company owned and retained the fee in the bed of the street. The record shows that the ground upon which the plaintiff objected to the admission of this evidence was that the lower Court in the case of the Canton Company’s appeal had decided “that the bed of Linwood avenue was not dedicated.” The railroad company was not, however, a party to that case, had no interest in it, and could not be concluded by any judgment therein. Hawley v. Baltimore, supra; Friedenwald v. Baltimore, 14 Md. 116; Act of 1898, Ch. 123, p. 341, sec. 175. It, moreover, appears from the record in the Canton Company’s Case in this court that the learned judge below held that there had been a dedication of Patuxent street, but that the city was estopped by its conduct, &c., from asserting its right to it. In the case at bar there is no evidence to show that the railroad company abandoned its easement in the street.
For the errors pointed out in the rejection of the evidence embraced in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth exceptions the rulings of the Court below must be reversed.
Rulings reversed, with costs to the appellant, and case remanded for a nevj trial.