Flavio

The main issue here is whether a certain roadway running through a tract of land in San Mateo County was dedicated to public use.

Plaintiffs brought this action to enjoin defendants, who own homes in the tract, from obstructing such public use. Plaintiffs were denied a preliminary injunction after a full hearing. The judgment was affirmed on appeal. (Flavio v. McKenzie (1960) 177 Cal.App.2d 274 [ 2 Cal.Rptr. 79 ].)

The action thereafter went to trial. Plaintiffs appeal from the ensuing judgment in favor of defendants, which decreed that the roadway, known as “Cervantes Road,” is a private road and that no person, other than an abutting owner of land along said roadway, has any right in or to the same or to the use thereof and that said roadway has never been dedicated to public use; that the defendants and all other owners of land abutting on said roadway each have an easement therein and a right of way for ingress and egress; that said road is not subject to public use or to use by the corporate plaintiffs, who hold only the naked legal title to said roadway.

A. J. Harwood, the attorney for appellants, acquired this tract, consisting of 163.18 acres, in 1927. In 1928 and 1929,…