Right-of-way (property access)

Right to make a "way" (as in a type of easement) over a piece of land

This article is about a right of access to adjacent property. For general right to pass through, see Right of way (public thoroughfare) and Right to roam. For other uses, see Right of way (disambiguation).

A request that this article title be changed to Right of way (railroad) is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed.

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Right of way drawing of U.S. Route 25E for widening project, 1981 Right of way highway marker in Athens, Georgia

A right of way (also right-of-way) is an easement of way, granted, purchased, or reserved over land for transportation purposes, such as footpaths, highways, railways, canals, as well as for infrastructure equipment such electrical transmission, oil, and gas pipe lines, to enable access to another property or properties.[1] In the case of an easement, it may revert to its original owners if the facility is abandoned. A right of way for access may be restricted to a single grantee.

The term "right of way" is also used to denote the land itself, such as the strips of land along a railroad track on which railroad companies own a right of way easement, or a trail or path.

## Easement[edit]

An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B".[2] An easement is a property right and type of incorporeal property in itself at common law in most jurisdictions.

### Infrastructure networks[edit]

Julington-Durbin Peninsula Powerline Right of Way

Easements are frequently given to permit the laying of communication cables (such as optical fiber) or natural gas pipelines, or to run electric power transmission lines overhead. Communications easement are used for wireless communications towers, cable lines, and other communications services. This is a private easement and the rights granted by the property owner are for the specific use of communications. Such utility easement also includes: storm drain, and sanitary sewer easement.

### In English law[edit]

Easements in English law are certain rights in English land law that a person has over another's land. Rights recognised as easements range from very widespread forms of rights of way, most rights to use service conduits such as telecommunications cables, power supply lines, supply pipes and drains, rights to use communal gardens and rights of light.

This does not generally include highways, which are legally defined in English common law, as "a way over which all members of the public have the right to pass and repass without hindrance",[3] usually accompanied by "at all times"; ownership of the ground is for most purposes irrelevant. Thus a highway encompasses all such ways from the widest trunk roads in public ownership to the narrowest footpath providing unlimited pedestrian access over private land.[citation needed]

## Rail right of way[edit]

In the United States, railroad rights of way (ROW or R/O/W) are generally considered private property by the respective railroad owners and by applicable state laws. Most U.S. railroads employ their own police forces, who can arrest and prosecute trespassers found on their rights-of-way. Some railroad rights-of-way include recreational rail trails.

In Canada, railroad rights of way are regulated by federal law.

In the United Kingdom, railway companies received the right to resume[further explanation needed] land for a right of way by private Acts of Parliament.

### Designations of railroad right of way[edit]

See also: Adverse abandonment

Right of way of the out of service Pacific Electric in Garden Grove, California from left middleground to right background

The various designations of railroad right of way are as follows:

* Active track is any track that is used regularly or even only once in a while.
* Out of service means the right of way is preserved, and the railroad retains the right to activate it. The line could be out of service for decades. Thus track or crossings that have been removed need to be replaced.
* By an embargo the track is removed, but the right of way is preserved and usually is converted into a walking or cycling path or other such use.
* An abandonment is a lengthy formal process by which the railroad gives up all rights to the line. In most cases the track is removed and sold for scrap and any grade crossings are redone. The line will never be active again. The right of way reverts to the adjoining property owners.

### Concerns about constructions of buildings around railway right-of-way[edit]

Many spatial planning experts are concerned about construction of houses/buildings around railway right-of-way does not pay attention to safety aspects -- the distance between railway right-of-way and houses/buildings that are too close is dangerous -- railway right-of-way is a train blind spot area that must be avoided. For example, in Vietnam -- Hanoi Department of Tourism ordered the permanent closure of cafes and shops along Hanoi Train Street for the safety despite being a popular tourist destination for foreign tourists in Hanoi.[4]

## See also[edit]

Look up right of way in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

* Air rights – Type of real estate ownership right
* Eminent domain – Legal power of a government to take private property for public use
* Indigenous land rights – Rights of indigenous people to customary land
* Noise barrier – Exterior structure on infrastructure used to prevent loud sounds from escaping
* 'Permanent way' - British term for a railway track and its adjacent land margin
* Right to property – Human right to own property
* Right of way (public throughway) – Legal right to pass through land belonging to another
* Right of way (traffic) – Passage priority
* Rights of way in England and Wales – Overview of the rights of way in England and Wales
* Wayleave – Right to access or cross land of another (especially for pipelines, power lines or telecommunications)

## References[edit]

1. ^ Henry Campbell Black: Right-of-way. In: A law dictionary containing definitions of the terms and phrases of American and English jurisprudence, ancient and modern: and including the principal terms of international, constitutional, ecclesiastical, and commercial law, and medical jurisprudence, with a collection of legal maxims ... (West Publishing Co., 1910), pg. 1040.
2. ^ Gray, Kevin J.; Susan Francis Gray (2009). Elements of Land Law (5th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 13\. ISBN 9780199219728. OCLC 231883446.
3. ^ Diplock LJ, Suffolk County Council v. Mason [1979] AC 705
4. ^ "Tours of coffee shops along Hanoi train street prohibited". Vietnamplus. 5 April 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2024.