23 Or. 176 | Or. | 1892
This is a suit to quiet title to a block of land in Holladay’s Addition to East Portland, now in the consolidated city of Portland. A decree was rendered by the court below for the defendant upon the ground that the land in question had been dedicated to the public for use as a public park, and from this decree the plaintiff has appealed.
The facts as we gather them from the evidence are, that the land in question is a portion of a tract of 241.94 acres, purchased by Ben Holladay in his lifetime of Jacob Wheeler and wife, and by him conveyed to George W. Weidler as trustee on the sixth day of August, 1870. Weidler had no beneficial interest in the land or any part
The contention of plaintiff is, that the making and
In England the word park is ordinarily applied to an enclosure upon a man’s own land, -and signifies that the land enclosed is the private ground of the proprietor: 2 Bla. Com. 38. And so too in this country, a man may enclose and ornament his land and call it a park without giving to the public any right to use it as a public place, because there is no semblance of dedication. In such case the meaning of the word is determined by the circumstances surrounding its use; but when it is applied to a piece or block of land in a city or town, and so marked and designated on the map or plan, the circumstances are such as to settle its meaning as a place for the resort of the public for recreation or enjoyment. The word “Park,” written upon a block of land represented upon a map or plan of a city or town, is as significant of a dedication, and the use to which the land is intended to be applied, as the word “street,” written on such plan. The popular and natural meaning of the term when so used is a piece of ground set apart for the enjoyment, comfort, and recreation of the inhabitants of the city or town in which it is located, and this is so whether the word be used alone or with some qualifying word, as “Hyde Park,” “Regent Park,” or “Central Park”: 17 Am. &. Eng. Enc. Law, 407; Price v. Inhabitants of Plainfield, 40 N. J. Law, 608; Trustees of M. E. Church v. Hoboken, 33 N. J. Law, 13 (97 Am. Dec. 696); Archer v. Salinas City, 93 Cal. 43 (28 Pac. Rep. 839). We are therefore all agreed that when Holladay caused the land in controversy to be marked and designated on the plan or map of Holladay’s Addition as “Park,” and then sold and caused to be conveyed lots and blocks by reference to such plan, it operated as a dedication of the land for a
The other question presented requires but a brief notice. Assuming that the statute of limitations will run as against the public in a case of this character, which we neither affirm nor deny, a careful examination of the entire evidence in this case has satisfied us that Holladay never at any time held adverse possession of the land in question for the purpose or with the intent of claiming the fee, but that he enclosed it for the purpose of protecting the trees and shrubbery growing thereon so that it might become, when the surrounding property should be occupied and improved, what he intended and designed it to be, — a public park.
The decree of the court below is therefore affirmed.