Source: https://chestofbooks.com/real-estate/Real-Property-Interests-Law/Chapter-XVII-Public-Rights-Sec-417-Highways.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 00:23:53+00:00

Document:
We have before referred to rights as to the use of the land of an individual for a public or quasi public purpose, such as a right of way for a railroad, for a drain, or for irrigation purposes.1 These, however, though they involve a public use of the land, do not usually give a right of user to each member of the public, while the rights which we will now consider may ordinarily be exercised by any individual member of the public, or of that part of the public resident in a particular locality.
The most usual instance of a right, in each member of the public, thus to make use of another's land, exists in the case of a "highway" over private land; this being, in effect, a right of way in gross, in favor of each member of the public.
1. See ante, Sec. 365.
- Creation. A highway may be created either (1) by "dedication" of the land by the owner to use ms a highway; (2) by prescription, - that is, user of the land by the public for highway purposes for the prescriptive period; or (3) by statutory proceedings, involving, if necessary, the taking of the land upon the payment of compensation under the power of eminent domain.
Statutory proceedings are usually, in the case of suburban highways, instituted by owners of land interested in procuring the establishment of the highway: and in cities, by the municipal authorities. All persons interested in the land over or through which the highway is to run are made parties to the proceeding; and it is the ordinary practice, in one proceeding, to determine the damages to be paid to the owners of the land utilized for the highway, and to apportion among the owners of the land to be benefitted thereby the cost of the undertaking. The preliminary question whether the proposed highway is necessary for the public welfare may be determined by the legislature, or delegated to the local authorities, or left to be adjudicated by the tribunal which determines the question of damages.
2. The use of the word "fee" in this connection to designate the ownership, as distinct from the mere right of user, of the land, though sanctioned by almost universal practice, is unfortunate, since the word is properly descriptive of the duration of a right, rather than of its character, and its use erroneously implies that a mere right of user is necessarily less in duration than a fee.
Sec. 254; 2 Dillon, Municipal Corporations, Sec. 589.
4. See post, Sec.Sec. 479, 514.
5. Elliott, Roads & Streets, Sec.Sec. 259, 876; 15 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2nd Ed.) 416; Cloverdale Homes v. Town of Cloverdale, 182 Ala. 419, 47 L. R. A. (N. S.) 607, 62 So. 712; Perley v. Chandler, 6 Mass. 454. 4 Am. Dec. 159; Glen-coe v. Reed, 93 Minn. 518, 67 L. R. A. 901, 101 N. W. 956; Daily v. State, 51 Ohio St. 348, 46 Am. St. Rep. 578; Lynch v. Town of Northview, 73 W. Va. 609, 52 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1038, 81 S. E. 833.
6. City of Atlanta v. Holliday. 96 Ga. 546, 23 S. E. 509; Crismon v. Deck, 84 Iowa, 344, 51 N. W. 55; Bigelow v. Whitcomb, 72 N. H. 473, 65 L. R. A. 676, 57 Atl. 680; Weller v. Mccormick, 52 N. J. L. 470, 8 L. R. A. 798, 19 Atl. 1101; Dalley v. State, 51 Ohio St. 348.
24 L. R. A. 724, 46 Am. St. Rep. 578, 37 N. E. 710; Sanderson v. Haverstick, 8 Pa. St. 294; Tucker v. Eldred, 6 R. I. 404.
7. Stackpole v. Healy, 16 Mass. 33. 8 Am. Dec. 121; Cole v. Drew, 44 Vt. 49, 8 Am. Rep. 363; People v. Foss, 80 Mich. 559, 45 N. W. 480, 20 Am. St. Rep. 532; Woodruff v. Neal, 28 Conn. 165; 1 Lewis, Eminent Domain, Sec. 853.
8. Town of Suffield v. Hathaway, 44 Conn. 521, 26 Am. Rep. 483; Aurora v. Fox, 78 Ind. 1; Deaton v. Polk County, 9 Iowa, 594; West Covington v. Freking, 8 Bush (Ky.) 121; Glencoe v. Reed, 93 Minn. 518, 67 L. R. A. 901, 10 N. W. 956; Higgins v. Reynolds, 31 N. Y. 151.
9. See Dillon. Mun. Corp.. Sec. 1149; 15 Am. & Eng. Encyc. Law (2nd Ed.) 417, 418.

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