highway

A passage, road, or street which every citizen (person) has a right to use. 3 Kent 432; Bespublica v. Arnold, 3 Yeates (Pa.) 421. The term Mgluway Is the generic name for all kinds of public ways, whether they be carriage-ways, bridle-ways, foot-ways, bridges, turnpike roads, railroads, canals, ferries, or navigable rivers; 6 Mod. 256; Ang, Ilighw. c. 1; 3 Kent 432. A oul ds sac may be a highway; 11 East 375, note; 18 Q. B. 870; Danforth v. Durell, 8 Allen (Mass.) 242; People v. Kingman, 24 N. Y. 559 (overruling Holdane v. Cold Spring, 23 Barb. [N. Y.] 103); Sheaff v. People, 87 III. 189, 29 Am, Rep. 49; Fields v. Colby, 102 Mich. 449, GO N. W. 1048 (but against the presumption that it is suefi is the fact “that it leads nowhere”; [1905] 2 Ch, 188); an alley would not be; Face v. City of Ionia, 90 Mich. 104, 51 N. W. 184. A public right of way over a highway is not an easement, for there is no domi;jant tenement, and the public are Incapable of taking a grant from any one; Odgers, C. L. 24. A private right of way is wholly distinct from a public right of way; it can be exercised only by the occupier of the dominant tenement and his family. See Easement. Highways dre created either by ieglslative authority or by dedication. First, by legislative authority. In England, the laying out of highways is regulated by act of parliament; in this country, by general statutes, differing in different states. In England, the uniform practice is to provide a compensation to the owner of the land taken for highways. In the act authorizing the taking, in the United States, such a provision must be made, or the act will be void under the clause in the federal and in the several state constitutions that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. The amount of such compensation may be determined either by a jury or by commissioners, as shall be prescribed by law; 1 Bla, Com. 139; Hlghw. 233; 8 Price 535; Mc Masters v. Com., 3 Watts (Pa.) 292; Williams v. B. Co., 16 N. Y. 97, 69 Am, Dec. 651; Ford v. B, Co., 14 Wis. 609, 80 Am. Dec. 791. In case the statute makes no provision for indemnity for land to b^ taken, an Injunction may be obtained to prevent the taking; Beekman v. Y.) 162, 7 Am. Dec. 526; Oushman y. Smith, 84 Me. 247; see Kern y. Isgrlgg, 132 Ind. 4, 31 N. B. 4®; or an action at law may be maintained after the damage has been committed; Crittenden v. Wilson, 6 Cow. (N. T.) 165, 15 Am. Dec. 462; Denslow v. New Haven & N. Co., 16 Conn. 98, and cases cited above. See Eminent Domain. Second, by dedication, which title see. The owner of the land over which it passes retains the fee and all rights of property not incompatible with the public enjoyment, such as the right to the herbage, the trees and fruit growing thereon, or minerals below, and may work a mine, sink a drain or cellar, or carry water in pipes beneath it, or sell the soil if it be done without injury to the highway; 4 Viner, Abr. 502; Com. Dig. Chemin (A 2);.Makepeace v. Worden, 1 N. H. 16; U. S. V. Harris, 1 Sumn. 21, Fed. Cas. No. 15,315; Mc Donald v. Lindall, 3 Rawle (Pa.) 495; Harris v. Elliott, 10 Pet (U. S.) 25, 0 L. Ekl. 333; Higgins v. Reynolds, 31 N. Y. 151; Holden v. Shattuck, 34 Vt 336, 80 Am. Dec. 684; Woodruff v. Neal, 28 Conn. 1G5; Farnsworth v. Rockland, 8.3 Me. 608, 22 Atl. 304; Page v. Belvin, 88 Va. 985, 14 S. E. 843; Bradley v. Pharr, 45 La. Ann. 426, 12 South. 618, 19 L. R. A. 647; Daily v. State, 51 Ohio St 348, 37 N. E. 710, 24 L. R, A. 724, 46 Am. St Rep. 578; [1893] 1 Q. B. 142; Ellsworth y. Lord, 40 Minn. 337, 42 N. W. 889; Chelsea Dye House Co. v. Com., 164 Mass. 350, 41 N. E. 649; but sep Kane v. R. Co., 125 N. Y. 164, 26 N. E. 278, 11 L. R. A. 640; Chain ss v. R. Co., 45 Kan. 398, 25 Pac. 894. The title to a spring within the right of way of a turnpike company is In the owner, who may use the water as he pleases, and the turnpike company has no right in such spring; Upper Ten Mile Plank Road Co. v. Braden, 172 Pa. 400, 33 Atl. 662, 61 Am. St Rep. 759. The owner may maintain ejectment for encroachments on the highway or an assize if disseized of it; 3 Kent 432; Adams, Eject 19; Cooper iv. Smith, 9 S. & R (Pa.) 26, 11 Am. Dec. 658; Peck v. Smith, 1 Conn. 135, 6 Am. Dec. 216; 2 Sm. Lead. Cas. 141; Thomas v. Hunt, 134 Mo. 392, 35 S. W. 581, 32 L. R. A. 867; or trespass against one who builds on it; Cortelyou v. Van Brundt, 2 Johns. (N. Y.) 357, 3 Am. Dec. 439; or who digs up and removes the soU; Gldney v. Earl, 12 Wend. (N. Y.) 98; [1893] 1 Q. B. 142; or cuts down trees growing thereon; Makepeace v. Worden, 1 N. H. 16; or damages them in putting up telephone wires; 2 Can. S. 0. R. 276; Daily v. State, 61 Ohio St. 848, 87 N. E. 710, 24 L. R. A. 724, '0 Am. St. Rep. 678; or who stops upon it for the purpose of using abusive or insulting language; Adams v. Rivers, 11 Barb. (N. Y.) 890. No one can stand on a highway and shoot at pheasants flying over; 4 E. & B. the adjoining street, and a city is liable for any damage occasioned by removing this lateral support in grading the street; Nichols V. City of Duluth, 40 Minn. 389. 42 N. W. 84, 12 Am. St. Rep. 748; and must furnish lateral support to the highway; Village of Haverstraw v. Eckerson, 192 N. Y. 64, 84 N. E. 678, 20 L. R A. (N. S.) 287. He may recover for the destruction of trees resulting from leaking gas pipes; 39 Am. L. Rev. 616. A steam railroad used for the purposes of transporting persons and property upon a highway is an additional servitude for which an abutting owner is entitled to compensation; Trustees of Presbyterian Society v. R. Co., 3 Hill (N. Y.) 567; Starr v. R. Co., 24

A free and public road, way or street; one which every person has the right to use. Abbott v. Duluth (C. C.) 104 Fed. 837; Shelby County Com'rs v. Cas-tetter, 7 Ind. App. 309, 33 N. E. 986; State v. Cowan, 29 N. C. 248; In re City of New York, 135 N. Y. 253, 31 N. E. 1043, 31 Am. St. Rep. 825; Parsons v. San Francisco, 23 Cal. 464. "In all counties of this state, publlc highways are roads, streets, alleys, lanes, courts, places, trails, and bridges, laid out or erected, as such by the public, or, if laid out and erected by others, dedicated or abandoned to the public, or made such in actions for the partition of real property." Pol. Code Cal. § 2618. There is a difference in the shade of meaning conveyed by two uses of the word. Sometimes it signifies right of free passage, in the abstract, not importing anything about the character or construction of the way. Thus, a river is called a "highway;" and it has been not unusual for congress, in granting a privilege of building a bridge, to declare that it shall be a public highway. Again, it has reference to some system of law authorizing the taking a strip of land, and preparing and devoting it to the use of travelers. In this use it imports a road-way upon the soil, constructed under the authority of these laws. Abbott.

— Commissioners of highways. Public officers appointed in ,the several counties and municipalities, in many states, to take charge of the opening, altering, repair, and vacating of highways within their respective jurisdictions.

— Common highway. By this term is meant a road to be used by the community at large for any purpose of transit or traffic. Ham. N. P. 239; Railway Co. v. State, 23 Fla. 546, 3 South. 158, 11 Am. St. Ren. 395.

— Highway acts, or laws. The body or system of laws governing the laying out. repair, and use of highways

— Highway crossing. A place where the track of a railroad crosses the line of a highway-Highway-rate. In English law A tax for the maintenance and repair of highways, chargeable upon the same property that is liable to the poor-rate

— Highway robbery. See Robbery.

— Highway tax. A tax for and applicable to the making and repair of highways. Stone v. Bean, 15 Gray (Mass.) 44.

A public way, or way open and common to all, whether a foot way, a carriage way, a bridle way or a water way.

Vide Road, Street, Way, and 4 Vin. Ab. 502; 3 Bac. Ab. 492; Com. Dig. Chemin; Dane’s Ab. Index, h. t.; Egremont on Highways; Wellbeloved on Highways; Woolrych on Ways.