The dominant owner had been exercising his vehicular right of way over a domestic drive by driving at excessive speeds. The servient owner installed speed bumps. The dominant onwer alleged interference with the right of way.
Held: This unreasonable use, a use not consistent with the principle of civiliter, entitled the servient owner to erect speed bumps along the drive but did not justify the erection of speed bumps of such severity that a motor car moving at, say, 10 to 15 mph would be unable to cross the bumps without the bumps striking the car’s undercarriage.
Stamp LJ said: ‘the learned judge found that as originally planned and laid down the ramps were not a substantial interference with the right of way. In this connection it is to be observed that in deciding what is a substantial interference with the dominant owner’s reasonable user of a right of way, all the circumstances must be considered, including the rights of other persons entitled to use the way: here the rights of the defendants in connection with their property and riding activities; and there was, in our judgment, evidence on which the judge could properly hold, as he did, that the ramps as originally planned and constructed did not constitute a substantial interference.’
Judges:
Stamp LJ
Citations:
[1973] Ch 275, [1973] 1 All ER 127
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Moncrieff and Another v Jamieson and others HL 17-Oct-2007
The parties disputed whether a right of way over a road included an implied right for the dominant owner to park on the servient tenement.
Held: The appeal failed. ‘The question is whether the ancillary right is necessary for the comfortable . .
Cited – Owers v Bailey ChD 2006
Nicholas Strauss QC dealt with the interference on a right of way by the erection of a gate, summarising the law. . .
Cited – Bramwell and Others v Robinson ChD 21-Oct-2016
Interference with right of way
Neighbour dispute as to right of way.
Held: The defendant had failed to establish the ‘swing space’ he asserted, but otherwise the claimant had in several ways behaved unreasonably and interfered with the use of the right and harrassed the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.260028