Serrano

Appellants filed this quiet title action for the purpose of preventing respondents’ use of a roadway. Respondents cross-complained, alleging a right of way by prescription, and prevailed in the trial court.

Appellants are husband and wife, as are respondents. For convenience the parties will hereinafter be referred to in the singular.

Appellant and respondent own adjoining parcels of farm land with a common line forming appellant’s south boundary and respondent’s north boundary. Before either party owned his respective parcel, a rough roadway consisting of wheel tracks ran across the southeast corner of appellant’s land, then southerly along the boundary between the two parcels, to a county road at the west boundary. The purpose of the roadway was to provide access from Poole Road on the east side of appellant’s property, to a county road on the west side.

When appellant purchased his property the southern por tion was “wild land,” that is, unleveled and uncultivated. Travelers wishing to get from Poole Road on the east to the county road on the west did not bother to follow the east and south boundary lines, but simply cut across the uncultivated land, leaving a triangle of…