Tag Archive for 'highway'

Adverse Possession of a Highway II

By Francis Davey on 12/03/2010. 8 Comments

Last year we reported the decision R (Smith) v Land Registry [2009] EWHC 328 (Admin) in which the High Court held (amongst other things) that it was impossible to acquire land by adverse possession if that land was subject to a public highway. At the time I expressed my concern about the soundness of that conclusion and so it is rather pleasing to find that on appeal in R (Smith) v Land Registry [2010] EWCA Civ 200, the Court Appeal agree with me.

To recap: the claimant lives in a caravan on land to the North of road which is a part of the public highway, even though it is … Read the full post

Posted in Adverse possession and Uncategorized. Tags: Adverse possession, highway, Romani.

Adverse possession of a highway

By Francis Davey on 13/05/2009. 29 Comments

Can you acquire title to land over which a highway runs? There seems to be no reason in principle why not but R (Smith) v Land Registry (Peterborough) [2009] EWHC 328 (Admin) — wrongly in my view — suggests otherwise.

The Claimant had occupied land with his caravan and its associated structures for in excess of 12 years. He applied to the Land Registry to register his title to the land by adverse possession. The land itself formed a part of a public highway open to all traffic. Accordingly the assistant land registrar refused the application for two reasons: (1) “title cannot be acquired to highway by adverse possession” and … Read the full post