Right of way
Legal right to pass through land belonging to another / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Right of way is a legal term used in a variety of related ways. In some cases a right of way is also a specific type of easement.[1]
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The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (May 2024) |
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It can be a right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e., by easement by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.[2] Access granted by a right of way ranges from being broad enough to grant access to the general public,[3] to being restricted for the benefit of only a specific individual or adjacent property.[4]
Also, when an individual owns a piece of land that is bordered on all sides by lands owned by others, an easement may exist or may be created so as to initiate a right of way through the bordering land.
The term categorizes an easement, or grant to use the land, in order to construct transportation facilities, such as railways, canals, electrical grids, pipelines, etc.[5] Long distance hiking trails are similarly created by national and local governments, though they can incorporate, in whole or part, historic rights of way established by prescription.
The term may also describe priority of traffic flow, "the legal right of a pedestrian, vehicle, or ship to proceed with precedence over others in a particular situation or place".[6] In hiking etiquette, where when two groups of hikers meet on a steep trail, a custom has developed in some areas whereby the group moving uphill has the "right of way".[7]
The term "right of way" is also used to denote the land itself, such as the strips of land along a railroad track; as well as a path, trail, road, bridleway, etc. that provides legal public access across private land, or along a waterway or shoreline.
A "permissive right of way" is closed for a day or more each year and can be rescinded at any time.
The right to roam is a historic legal right of access to private and public land and waters in many northern European countries, that is not limited to following rights of way along paths and trails. A similar right of access also exists on land held by a government, lands that are typically called public land, state land, or Crown land.