Smith v. Ricker

In Smith v. Ricker (1964) 226 Cal. App. 2d 96, a suit between private property owners, a critical issue was whether a highway formerly running between the properties had been abandoned. The state had stopped maintaining the road in 1932 when a new state highway was built nearby, and a 1937 flood destroyed much of the road. (Id. at p. 97.) One party urged the lack of abandonment proceedings meant the remnants of the road remained public. There was a resolution approving the new route, but not explicitly abandoning the old. (Smith, 226 Cal. App. 2d at p. 99.) The Court concluded that because the public never owned the land, but merely had a right-of-way, a formal abandonment was not required. As the Court summarized at pages 99-100: "Whether relocation of a highway and nonuser of its former site constitute an abandonment of the public interest by implication depends upon two factors: (1) the character of the interest originally acquired by the public, and (2) compliance with statutory formalities. In the absence of statute a proprietary interest in the highway site, acquired by deed or dedication, may be lost only through express abandonment; but a public interest acquired by occupancy and use, without a formal grant, may be extinguished by nonuser, relocation or other evidence of an intent to abandon. If statutes provide a method for abandonment or vacation of roads, that method is exclusive."