§ 3.9 - Estate Acquired
Jurisdiction | Washington |
§3.9 ESTATE ACQUIRED
The title or right acquired by the public following common-law or statutory dedication is discussed below.
(1) Common-law dedication
A common-law dedication conveys an easement only, unless the intention of the owner is to convey a fee. Rainier Ave. Corp. v. City of Seattle, 80 Wn.2d 362, 365-66, 494 P.2d 996, cert. denied, 409 U.S. 983 (1972); Finch v. Matthews, 74 Wn.2d 161, 167, 443 P.2d 833 (1968). Words in a dedication reserving the fee to the dedicators is a redundancy. Bradley v. Spokane & Inland Empire Realty. Co., 79 Wash. 455, 458-59, 140 P. 688 (1914), error dismissed, 241 U.S. 639 (1916).
Comment: | It is uncertain how specific a dedication must be to convey a fee simple to the public. In King County v. Hanson Inv Co., 34 Wn.2d 112, 208 P.2d 113 (1949), for example, a quitclaim deed conveying, releasing, and quitclaiming to King County, for public use as a public highway, all interest in a strip of land conveyed the highest estate that a municipal corporation is empowered to hold. The court decided that the deed did not create a determinable, defeasible, or qualified fee. But the court failed to define the estate conveyed by the deed and left unanswered the question of ownership upon abandonment or vacation. |
Practice Tip: |
Any deed to a local government |
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- 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
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