Opinion ID: 2600153
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dedication and Adverse Possession Distinguished

Text: We first addressed public prescriptive rights in Starr v. People, 17 Colo. 458, 30 P. 64 (1892). In Starr, the question was whether the road at issue was a public highway at the time the action was instituted. Id. at 459, 30 P. at 65. We addressed two alternative theories: dedication and adverse possession. Id. Depending on the facts of the particular case, several factors could raise an implication of dedication on the landowner's part, including the fact that the public had used the road for a considerable length of time without objection by the landowner. Use of the road by the public for a considerable length of time without objection by the owner of the land may increase the weight of the evidence, if any there be, arising from acts or declarations of the owner indicating his intent to dedicate. But mere use, without such acts or declarations, unless for a period of time corresponding to the statutory limitation of real actions, cannot be held sufficient to vest the easement in the public, as by prescription. Id. at 460, 30 P. at 65. At that time we indicated that use by the public for the statutory time was itself sufficient to create a public prescriptive right. We revisited the issue of dedication and implied dedication in Mitchell v. City of Denver, 33 Colo. 37, 78 P. 686 (1904). There, we reiterated that, in order for a private road to become a public highway by dedication, the landowner must manifest some intent for that outcome. We left room for a future case involving adverse possession. We concluded that the evidence in Mitchell fell short of establishing a dedication or a prescriptive easement because the facts did not show either acquiescence by the landowner or adverse possession. That the city of Denver, or some of its constituent municipal corporations, six or seven years before the trial graded this street, put up signposts at the intersection of the adjoining streets, and placed thereon the names thereof, is not, under the facts, sufficient evidence of acquiescence by the owners in this alleged assertion of public ownership, or sufficient to make out an ownership arising from adverse possession. Id. at 40, 78 P. at 687. We next addressed the issue in Lieber v. People, 33 Colo. 493, 81 P. 270 (1905). Here, we repeated the rules of dedication set forth in Starr and Mitchell, butbecause of a factual dispute as to whether the road the claimants sought actually crossed the land in questionwe did not reach a conclusion regarding the requirements for creating a public road on private property. Id. We simply observed that the evidence must show, with reasonable certainty, that public travel occurred on the land in controversy. Id. at 498, 81 P. at 271.