N objected to the reclassification of a public footpath over his farm as a byway open to all traffic, saying that there had been insufficient evidence to establish a dedication at common law.
Held: N’s appeal failed. ‘A track can become a highway by reason of the dedication of the right of passage to the public by the owner of the soil and the acceptance of that right by the public. Dedication means that the owner of the soil has either said in so many words, or so conducted himself or herself as to lead the public to infer that he or she was willing that the public should have this right of passage’
Judges:
Dyson J
Citations:
[1996] EWHC Admin 393, [1996] COD 296
Links:
Statutes:
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 54, Highways Act 1980 31, Rights of Way Act 1932
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Jones v Bates CA 1938
The court considered whether there had been an act by the landowner sufficient to amount to a dedication a path as a public right of way. Scott LJ said that actual dedication was ‘often a pure legal fiction [which] put on the affirmant of the public . .
Cited – Jaques v Secretary of State for the Environment 1995
Laws pointed out that the law on dedication of had moved forward, saying: ‘Taking the passage cited from Scott LJ in Jones v Bates as a full and convenient description of the common law, it seemed that the material change effected by the statute of . .
Cited – Fairey v Southampton City Council CA 1956
The landowner denied that a public right of way had been created over his land. Under the 1932 Act, 20 years user expiring at any time, even before the Act came into force, was capable of giving rise to a deemed dedication of a public highway under . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Updated: 01 December 2022; Ref: scu.136941