T. H. Edwards filed a petition with the board of commissioners of Yancey County requesting that part of an old public road on his land be closed. Several citizens certified that the road was not needed or used by the public. The commissioners made an order that the road be' abandoned. An adjoining landowner appealed to the Superior
In 1931 tbe General Assembly enacted additional legislation relating to tbe highway system and to tbe maintenance of tbe public roads of tbe State. Pub. Laws 1931, cb. 145. It was provided in section 7 of this act tbat after 1 July, 1931, tbe exclusive control, management, and responsibility for all public roads in tbe several counties should be vested in tbe State Highway Commission and tbat tbe place of county, district, and township road commissioners should be abolished. All roads composing tbe several county road systems were to be mapped on or before tbe first day of May, 1931, and at tbe courthouse door in each county a map was to be posted showing all roads making up tbe county road system. All these roads to which no objection was made were to constitute tbe county road system for tbe respective counties. Tbe State Highway Commission was authorized to change tbe maps at any time before they were posted so as to include any roads tbat did not appear on tbe printed maps. Only those appearing on tbe maps were to be taken over by tbe Highway Commission. Section 11. Tbe petition referred to in section 14 is applicable only to a road in the county road system.
Article 13, chapter 70, of tbe Consolidated Statutes deals with cart-ways, church roads, mill roads, and like easements. This article was amended by chapter 448, Public Laws 1931, by which it is provided tbat tbe establishment, alteration, or discontinuance of any of these easements shall be determined by a special proceeding instituted before tbe clerk of tbe Superior Court of tbe county in which tbe property affected is situated. By chapter 302, Public Laws 1933, this act (cb. 448), was amended by tbe insertion of section 3838:b^, which is as follows: “Tbat all those portions of tbe public road system of tbe State which have not been taken over and placed under maintenance or which have been abandoned by tbe State Highway Commission, but which remain open and in general use by tbe public, and all those roads tbat have been laid out, constructed, or reconstructed with unemployment relief funds under tbe supervision of tbe Department of Public Welfare, are hereby declared to be neighborhood public roads, and they shall be subject to all of tbe provisions of this act with respect to tbe alteration, extension, or discontinuance thereof, and any interested citizen is authorized to institute such proceeding.”
Tbe road described in tbe petition is not on tbe map posted in Yancey and is not included in tbe “county road system” taken over by the State Highway Commission; nor is it a cartway, church road, or mill road. It is a neighborhood road within tbe meaning of tbe quoted act, and tbe question of its discontinuance must be determined by a special proceeding instituted before tbe clerk.
Modified and affirmed.
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This opinion was written in accordance with the Court’s decision and adopted and filed, by order of the Court, after Justice AcLq/ms’ death. 23 May, 1934. Brogden, J.