Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/177

 GEOGAN». TOWN OP HATWABD. 163 �cliaser at a sale made in 1804: ux/On a foreclosure of mortgages Qpon the tract of land embracing the town of San Lorenzo, exe- cuted by Castro in 1858, 1859, and 1862, �The name of the town was subsequently changed from San Lorenzo to Hayward, and under this latter name was incor- porated by the legislature in March, 1876. The act of incor- poration authorized the board of trustees created by it "to provide for enclosing, improving, and regulating ail publia grounds at the expense of the town," and, of course, to tak« control of them for that purpose. �Sometime prior to January 5, 1877, Luis Castjro, son of Guillermo, as county Burveyor, by direction of the board of trustees, made a survey of the town in acoordance with the map of 1856, and the survey was finally approved and the map officially adopted by an ordinance passed January 6, 1877. �The plaintiflf, Grogan, at the time claiming under convey- ances from Castro and the holder of the mortgages mentioned, (subsequently the purchaser on their foreclosure,) constructed warehouses on a part of the block marked on the map as the "Plaza," and occupied them from 1864 to 1877. In the latter year these warehouses were burned down, and soon afterwards the authorities of the town took possession of the ground as part of its public plaza. Hence the present suit. �Under this statement of the case there ought to be no doubt as to the Judgment of the court. In the ligbt of adju- dications, almost without number, in the courts of the several Btates, and in those of the United States, ths law as to what constitutes a dedication of private property to public pur- poses, so as to be beyond the recall of the original owner, would seem to be settled, �A dedication of land for public purposes is simply a devo- tion of it, or of an easement in it, to such purposes by the owner, manifested by some clear declaration of the fact. If nothing beyond the declaration be done— if there be no accept-' ance by the public of the dedication, and no interest in the* property be acquired by third parties — the dedication lûày be recalled at the pleasure of the owner. But if the dedication^ ����