290 ROADSIDE WASTES. 



regard to the road itself, yet they are clearly justified in 

 removing any obstructions upon it. 



The principal case bearing on this subject, in which 

 the law was clearly laid down, was that where a 

 telegraph company, wishing to compete with another 

 company, obtained the consent of the owners of the 

 adjoining land to erect their poles on the road-side 

 wastes, along the route where they desired to carry their 

 wires. The obstruction caused by the poles was scarcely 

 perceptible to the ordinary public. The rival company, 

 however, acting ostensibly in the interests of the public, 

 but really in their own interests only, with the object of 

 preventing opposition, indicted the company, which 

 had erected the poles, for obstructing the Queen's 

 Highway. 



In the trial which took place, Baron Martin directed 

 the jury as follows: 



u In the ease of an ordinary highway, although it may be 

 of a varying and unequal width, running between fences, one on 

 each side, the right of passage or way, prima facie, and unless 

 there be evidence to the contrary, extends to the whole space 

 between the fences, and the public are entitled to the use of the 

 entire of it as the highway, and are not confined to the part 

 which may be metalled or kept in repair for the more convenient 

 use of carriages or foot passengers. . . A permanent obstruc- 

 tion created on a highway, and placed there without lawful 

 authority, while rendering the way less commodious than before 

 to the public, is an unlawful act, and a public nuisance at 

 common law, and it' the jury believed that the defendants placed, 

 for the purpose of profit to themselves, posts, with the object 

 and intention of keeping them there, and the posts were of 



