in proceedings at law, under the authority of the state by virtue of its right of eminent domain.

And first of the manner in which the owner may dedicate his land as a public way. Dedication is the setting apart of land for public use. It is essential to every valid dedication that it should conclude the owner, and that as against the public it should. be accepted by the proper local authorities or by general public user. There are two kinds of dedication, statutory dedication and common law dedication. Where the statute requires that the dedication shall be evidenced in a particular way, as by plats or maps, and that they shall be acknowledged before some competent officer, these requirements must be strictly complied with. Unless the proper local authorities accept the dedication, such ways can not properly be called public highways, in the sense that the expense of maintenance can be cast upon the public. But where lots have been purchased, according to plats or maps showing certain streets and alleys upon them, these alleys and streets will be kept open as ways for the benefit of such persons as have made such purchases. A statutory dedication is by way of grant, a common law dedication arises by way of an estoppel in pais. No writing is necessary to a common law dedication-no formality. The mere throwing open the land to the use of the public for a way is a dedication if the public accepts it. It must be clear, however, that the land-owner intends to give the right. The fact that the owner acquiesced in the use of the way by the public for twenty years is sufficient evidence of intent. If the public are in the habit of using such a

way, and the owner does not wish to dedicate it, he can by unequivocal acts assert his right, as by putting gates or fences across the way even once in a year. It has been said that one act of obstruction by the owner is better evidence of intent than years of acquiescence in the use by the public. But if the use is continuous and uninterrupted for twenty years the way is established. Dedication may arise in a shorter period than twenty years, when the intent to dedicate is positive and manifest, and the question of intent is a question of fact for the jury. When a dedication is once made it can not be revoked.

§ 74. Private rights of way.-Private rights of way are of two kinds: Those which are purely personal and can not be assigned, and those which are appurtenant or annexed to an estate and pass with a conveyance of the estate. A private way may be created by a grant, or it may arise by operation of law or necessity. It arises by operation of law or necessity where one sells a parcel of land which is surrounded wholly by the lands of the grantor or by his lands and the lands of others. In such case, the vendee has the right of way over the lands of the vendor to the public highway. The right to locate the way rests first in the vendor. If he fails to locate it within a reasonable time in a convenient manner, the right to locate it is in the vendee, and when once located it must be adhered to. The doctrine of dedication has no application to a private way, though that right may be established by uninterrupted user for twenty years. To make good a private way by prescription, the use must be definite as to manner and location. It must be under a claim adverse to the owner and not un

der license. It must continue for the whole period, i. e., twenty years, without interruption.

§ 75. Temporary rights of way.-There is a temporary right of way over the adjoining land if a public highway becomes impassable, as by the falling of a tree, the washing away of a bridge or a part of the highway itself. But this is not so of a private right of way, the reason being that the owner of the way may be bound to repair, and the condition of the private way may be owing to his neglect ; but if a public highway becomes impassable, it is for the general good that the people should be entitled to pass in that direction.

§ 76. Easements.-An easement is a right in the owner of one parcel of land, by reason of such ownership, to use the land of another for a special purpose not inconsistent with a general property in the owner. We have already spoken of rights of way, both public and private, which are both easements. To these may be added the right to water cattle at a spring or pond or stream on the land of another, the right to take and use such water for domestic purposes, the right of the owner of a building to discharge the water from his roof upon another's land, the right to swing doors, shutters, gates over another's land, the right to lay pipes to conduct water, gas, sewage, the right to put a partition fence or a party wall partly on the land of an adjacent proprietor. A mere permission by one land-owner to another to use his land for a given purpose is a license, and will not be an easement. An easement by prescription can only be perfected in the manner pointed out as to rights of way.

A party wall is a wall built by agreement on the division line of estates, which each proprietor has a right to use as a support to buildings. Each owner of land has an easement in the adjoining land for lateral support of his land in its natural state. This easement does not extend to any structures which increase the weight. In constructing a party wall, the builder must erect it in a skillful manner, and if he does not do so he is liable for any damage that may result. Either party may repair the wall by underpinning, or increasing its height, but he must be careful that no damage is occasioned thereby. Where one erects a wall partly on the land of another, who sees it and has reason to believe that the builder looks to him for contribution, the jury may, from such conduct, infer that he agreed to pay for it. Express agreements of the parties in relation to the building, use, repair and payment for party walls are binding. It is an unsettled question, however, whether such agreements continue in favor of and against the assignees or grantees of the parties who make them.

Easements may be lost by non-user where an intention to abandon may be inferred. They are extinguished where the same party becomes the owner of the dominant and servient estates, the maxim being that no man can have an easement on his own land.

§ 77. Offices and dignities.-Offices and dignities, which are mentioned by Blackstone as incorporeal hereditaments, can not be so considered in a country where most offices are elective at stated times for limited terms, and where none are held longer than

during good behavior. Officers in private corporations are mere agents, whose authority and duties will be treated of in their appropriate place.

§ 78. Franchises.-A franchise is a special privilege conferred by government on individuals, which does not belong to the citizens of the country generally by common right. Kent defines it as a particular privilege, conferred by grant from the government and vested in individuals. In a popular sense, it is synonymous with right or privilege, as the elective franchise. Among the most important of modern franchises is the right to be a corporation, the franchise to control a toll road, or bridge, to keep a ferry.

§ 79. Rents.-Rents are a species of incorporeal property. Rent is a compensation given for the possession of some corporeal inheritance. It may be paid in money, in kind, by services, or in any manner agreed upon by the parties. Rent is regularly due and payable on the premises from which it arises. Where a forfeiture of a term for non-payment of rent is attempted, the rent by the old rule was strictly demandable and payable before the time of sunset of the day whereon it is reserved, but now it is not considered due until midnight of the natural day on which it is payable. The day of payment is usually fixed by the contract, and when this is silent it is payable monthly or quarterly, according to the custom prevailing at the time and place.

§ 80. Liens.-A lien is the right of a creditor to have his debt or demand satisfied out of specific property. Liens may be classified as statutory, equitable, created by contract or common law liens. The