Right-of-way
Right-of-way
Two-handed sword
Category="Disambiguation"Category="Real property law"Category="Rights of way"Category="Traffic law"The phrase Right-of-way is used in two main ways:
- with reference to the question of which of two or more moving vehicles has priority:
- with reference to the legal status of land used in transit:
- the property along the sides of, and including, railroad tracks. Most railroad rights-of-way within the US are called an "exclusive right-of-way". Persons entering the trackway are either Qualified Roadway Workers or trespassers.
- the legal Right of a government, Public utility, or private business to build and maintain a Transport route, Pipeline, or electrical line (usually granted with government authorization or expropriation); also the land through which such construction passes;
- the legal right (usually termed an Easement in Common law jurisdictions) allowing a particular person, the owners or licensees of adjacent land or the general public to walk, cross, and/or drive across certain parcel of land. Usually to gain access to another parcel of land that may be enclosed or may not have easy access to a roadway; see also Trespass.
- In the United Kingdom, a public right of way exists under Common law if it has been used for 20 years. After hundreds of years of history, an enormous network of rights of way across private land exists with definitive maps maintained by local authorities. Apart from public roads, public rights of way in the UK can be classified as: