Central Pacific Railroad Company v.
Alameda, 1932 - Justice Sutherland, U.S. Supreme
Court, in Central Pacific Railroad Company v. Alameda,
1932, similarly described the 1866 act as the federal government’s
“voluntary recognition and confirmation of preexisting rights”
held by explorers and settlers using a burgeoning system of roads and
trails to access communities and new lands.
Sutherland determined that the term “highway” included
roads “formed by the passage of wagons, etc., over the natural
soil.” His decision
does not focus on the word “constructed” but uses instead the
terms “created,” “established,” and “laid out.”
(284 U.S. 463, 76 L.Ed. 402, 1932)
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