LAW ON RIGHTS OF WAY. 139* 



A right of way acquired by statute is that which is provided 

 for similar to the la(>'iug out of public waj's, and is conferred 

 by municipal authorities, and will be confined strictly to the 

 uses for which it was laid out. 



All rights of way, acquired from whatever mode, must be 

 used in accordance with the particular specifications of the 

 grant, or the necessities requiring its use. Whether, after a 

 way has been once located, it can afterwards be changed so 

 that by parol agreement a new one can be substituted, which 

 will confer an absolute right to use it the same as the former 

 way was used, and not subject to revocation, has been some- 

 what discussed, and the principle upon which it would seem 

 to be governed would forbid that any such right should exist, 

 short of the continued, open, uninterrupted adverse use 

 twenty years. But the right to use the former way would 

 not be lost, until a right to the new way had been established. 



The mere non-user of a right of way, created by grant, for 

 a period less than twenty y^ars, is not, of itself, sufficient to 

 defeat the right to use the way. There must be some act by 

 which it could reasonably be inferred there was an intention 

 to abandon the ^vay. 



The natural question in all such cases is, whether there was 

 an intention to abandon the easement before enjoyed, or 

 whether the non-user is imputable to some other cause. 



In whatever way the right herein referred to may be 

 acquired, it becomes quite important that the claimant should 

 understand the full extent of such right. 



I doubt not my own experience has been similar to that of 

 the majority of the members of my profession, in teaching me 

 that a gi'eat part of the litigations in our courts, concerning 

 real estate, grows out of claims of "rights of way," which, of 

 themselves, are uncertain, either from the ambiguous language 

 used by conveyances in deeds, where an express grant is made, 

 or from the doubt which may arise as to what extent and for 

 what purposes such right is claimed, and if claimed, whether 

 it has been acquired. 



Having considered to some extent the most important prac- 

 tical questions that suggest themselves relating to real estate, 

 there are some other considerations relating to personal 

 property which it may not be unprofitable to examine. 



