§ 3.10 - Rights Acquired by the Public
Jurisdiction | Washington |
§3.10 RIGHTS ACQUIRED BY THE PUBLIC
Upon dedication, a public easement permits not only a right of passage, but also all implied rights and privileges necessary to use the easement. Finch v. Matthews, 74 Wn.2d 161, 167-68, 443 P.2d 833 (1968); Hagen v. City of Seattle, 54 Wn.2d 218, 221, 339 P.2d 79 (1959) (right to make an original grade is implied in the dedication of a street).
(1) Permissible uses
Absent specific conditional language in the dedication, the property dedicated may be used for any purpose not inconsistent with the use for which the property was dedicated. See Hanson Inv. Co., 34 Wn.2d 112. For example, land dedicated as a street is deemed to be held in trust for the public and for the benefit of public travel. Public improvements that do not interfere with public ingress and egress rights are permissible. Albee v. Town of Yarrow Point, 74 Wn.2d 453, 457, 458-59, 445 P.2d 340 (1968) (concluding that construction of a bench on property dedicated for a public street was permissible because it could be used by pedestrians); City of Seattle v. P.B. Inv. Co., 11 Wn. App. 653, 658, 524 P.2d 419 (1974) (water mains, gas pipes, telephone and telegraph lines). Public authorities may change the intensity of the use over time. Albee, 74 Wn.2d at 458-59 (adapting a right-of-way to accommodate vehicle use deemed permissible even though it had only been used exclusively by pedestrians); Ferry v. City of Seattle, 116 Wash. 648, 203 P. 40 (1922), rev'g 200 P. 336 (1921) (concluding the city could change the use of property dedicated to the city because the dedication did not contain any restrictions on its use).
Although public authorities have discretion to change the use of property over time, they may not have the authority to change the restrictions on use after acceptance, even by a document from the original grantors or their successors amending the restrictions at a later date, if the amendment effectively would violate the terms of the original dedication. See Friends of N. Spokane Cnty. Parks v. Spokane Cnty., 184 Wn. App. 105, 336 P.3d 632 (2014) (reversing the trial court decision as to standing of the taxpayers and remanding the case for further review on the merits).
(2) Power to convey
One key difference between an easement and a dedication to the public is that the public has the right to convey interests in the dedicated property, and the interests so conveyed will survive a vacation of the property. Specifically, cities...
To continue reading
Request your trial- Books and Journals
- Summary
- § 3.1 - Introduction
- § 3.2 - Requisites of a Valid Dedication
- § 3.3 - Offer to Dedicate-Statutory Dedication
- § 3.4 - Offer to Dedicate-Common-Law Dedication
- § 3.5 - Prescriptive Easements and Implied Common-Law Dedications Distinguished
- § 3.6 - Acceptance of Dedication
- § 3.7 - Characteristics of the Dedicator
- § 3.8 - Characteristics of the Dedicatee
- § 3.9 - Estate Acquired
- § 3.10 - Rights Acquired by the Public
- § 3.11 - Revocation of Dedication
- § 3.12 - Abandonment and Vacation
Subscribers can access the reported version of this case.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
Why Sign-up to vLex?
-
Over 100 Countries
Search over 120 million documents from over 100 countries including primary and secondary collections of legislation, case law, regulations, practical law, news, forms and contracts, books, journals, and more.
-
Thousands of Data Sources
Updated daily, vLex brings together legal information from over 750 publishing partners, providing access to over 2,500 legal and news sources from the world’s leading publishers.
-
Find What You Need, Quickly
Advanced A.I. technology developed exclusively by vLex editorially enriches legal information to make it accessible, with instant translation into 14 languages for enhanced discoverability and comparative research.
-
Over 2 million registered users
Founded over 20 years ago, vLex provides a first-class and comprehensive service for lawyers, law firms, government departments, and law schools around the world.
Subscribers are able to see a list of all the cited cases and legislation of a document.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
Why Sign-up to vLex?
-
Over 100 Countries
Search over 120 million documents from over 100 countries including primary and secondary collections of legislation, case law, regulations, practical law, news, forms and contracts, books, journals, and more.
-
Thousands of Data Sources
Updated daily, vLex brings together legal information from over 750 publishing partners, providing access to over 2,500 legal and news sources from the world’s leading publishers.
-
Find What You Need, Quickly
Advanced A.I. technology developed exclusively by vLex editorially enriches legal information to make it accessible, with instant translation into 14 languages for enhanced discoverability and comparative research.
-
Over 2 million registered users
Founded over 20 years ago, vLex provides a first-class and comprehensive service for lawyers, law firms, government departments, and law schools around the world.
Subscribers are able to see a list of all the documents that have cited the case.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
Why Sign-up to vLex?
-
Over 100 Countries
Search over 120 million documents from over 100 countries including primary and secondary collections of legislation, case law, regulations, practical law, news, forms and contracts, books, journals, and more.
-
Thousands of Data Sources
Updated daily, vLex brings together legal information from over 750 publishing partners, providing access to over 2,500 legal and news sources from the world’s leading publishers.
-
Find What You Need, Quickly
Advanced A.I. technology developed exclusively by vLex editorially enriches legal information to make it accessible, with instant translation into 14 languages for enhanced discoverability and comparative research.
-
Over 2 million registered users
Founded over 20 years ago, vLex provides a first-class and comprehensive service for lawyers, law firms, government departments, and law schools around the world.
Subscribers are able to see the revised versions of legislation with amendments.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
Why Sign-up to vLex?
-
Over 100 Countries
Search over 120 million documents from over 100 countries including primary and secondary collections of legislation, case law, regulations, practical law, news, forms and contracts, books, journals, and more.
-
Thousands of Data Sources
Updated daily, vLex brings together legal information from over 750 publishing partners, providing access to over 2,500 legal and news sources from the world’s leading publishers.
-
Find What You Need, Quickly
Advanced A.I. technology developed exclusively by vLex editorially enriches legal information to make it accessible, with instant translation into 14 languages for enhanced discoverability and comparative research.
-
Over 2 million registered users
Founded over 20 years ago, vLex provides a first-class and comprehensive service for lawyers, law firms, government departments, and law schools around the world.
Subscribers are able to see any amendments made to the case.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
Why Sign-up to vLex?
-
Over 100 Countries
Search over 120 million documents from over 100 countries including primary and secondary collections of legislation, case law, regulations, practical law, news, forms and contracts, books, journals, and more.
-
Thousands of Data Sources
Updated daily, vLex brings together legal information from over 750 publishing partners, providing access to over 2,500 legal and news sources from the world’s leading publishers.
-
Find What You Need, Quickly
Advanced A.I. technology developed exclusively by vLex editorially enriches legal information to make it accessible, with instant translation into 14 languages for enhanced discoverability and comparative research.
-
Over 2 million registered users
Founded over 20 years ago, vLex provides a first-class and comprehensive service for lawyers, law firms, government departments, and law schools around the world.
Subscribers are able to see a visualisation of a case and its relationships to other cases. An alternative to lists of cases, the Precedent Map makes it easier to establish which ones may be of most relevance to your research and prioritise further reading. You also get a useful overview of how the case was received.

Why Sign-up to vLex?
-
Over 100 Countries
Search over 120 million documents from over 100 countries including primary and secondary collections of legislation, case law, regulations, practical law, news, forms and contracts, books, journals, and more.
-
Thousands of Data Sources
Updated daily, vLex brings together legal information from over 750 publishing partners, providing access to over 2,500 legal and news sources from the world’s leading publishers.
-
Find What You Need, Quickly
Advanced A.I. technology developed exclusively by vLex editorially enriches legal information to make it accessible, with instant translation into 14 languages for enhanced discoverability and comparative research.
-
Over 2 million registered users
Founded over 20 years ago, vLex provides a first-class and comprehensive service for lawyers, law firms, government departments, and law schools around the world.
Subscribers are able to see the list of results connected to your document through the topics and citations Vincent found.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
Why Sign-up to vLex?
-
Over 100 Countries
Search over 120 million documents from over 100 countries including primary and secondary collections of legislation, case law, regulations, practical law, news, forms and contracts, books, journals, and more.
-
Thousands of Data Sources
Updated daily, vLex brings together legal information from over 750 publishing partners, providing access to over 2,500 legal and news sources from the world’s leading publishers.
-
Find What You Need, Quickly
Advanced A.I. technology developed exclusively by vLex editorially enriches legal information to make it accessible, with instant translation into 14 languages for enhanced discoverability and comparative research.
-
Over 2 million registered users
Founded over 20 years ago, vLex provides a first-class and comprehensive service for lawyers, law firms, government departments, and law schools around the world.