The court considered the nature of the 1949 Act: ‘The object of the statute is this: it is to have all our ancient highways mapped out, put on record and made conclusive, so that people can know what their rights are. Our old highways came into existence before 1835. They were created in the days when people went on foot or on horseback or in carts. They went to the fields to work, or to the village, or to the church. They grew up time out of mind. The law of England was: once a highway, always a highway. But nowadays with the bicycle, the motorcar and the bus, many of them have fallen into disuse. They have become overgrown and no longer passable. But yet it is important that they should be preserved and known, so that those who love the countryside can enjoy it, and take their walks and rides there. That was the object of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and the Countryside Act 1968. In 1949 the local authorities were required to make inquiries and map out our countryside. First, a draft map; next a provisional map; and finally a definitive map. There were opportunities both for landowners and the public to make their representations as and when each map passed through each stage. In 1968 there was to be a review and re-classification.’ Obiter: on reclassification of a RUPP as a bridleway public vehicular rights could be extinguished.
Judges:
Lord Denning Master of the Rolls
Citations:
[1975] 1 QB 891
Statutes:
National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 27(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Todd, Bradley v The Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Admn 22-Jun-2004
Application was made to quash an order modifying the Council’s definitive map of public rights of way.
Held: Before the Secretary of State could confirm a Council’s modification of a right of way shown on the definitive map, where that . .
Cited – Kind, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Admn 27-Jun-2005
The applicant challenged a refusal to confirm a draft order recognising a road used as a path as a byway open to all traffic.
Held: The challenge succeeded. The path had been shown under the 1948 Act as a road used as a public path. The . .
Disapproved – Regina v Secretary of State for the Environment ex parte Riley 1990
The court considered the effect of a reclassification of a road under the 1968 Act.
Held: Reclassification as a bridleway left open the possible existence of public vehicular rights since the 1968 Act had left the effect of the proviso in . .
Cited – Fortune and Others v Wiltshire Council and Another CA 20-Mar-2012
The court considered the contnuation of public rights of way against the new system of the ending of certain unrecorded rights.
Held: he appeal failed. ‘As a matter of plain language, section 67(2)(b) does not, in our judgment, require the . .
Cited – Fortune and Others v Wiltshire Council and Another CA 20-Mar-2012
The court considered the contnuation of public rights of way against the new system of the ending of certain unrecorded rights.
Held: he appeal failed. ‘As a matter of plain language, section 67(2)(b) does not, in our judgment, require the . .
Cited – Trail Riders Fellowship v Secretary of State for The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Admn 26-Jan-2015
The Fellowship appealed against confirmation of an order changing a Byway open to all traffic to a bridleway, thus excluding their members (in this case motorcyclists) from its use by motorised vehicles. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.199308