ROADSIDE WASTES. 289 
vested in the owners of the adjoining land, as is the case 
with the soil of the roads, subject to the rights of the 
public over them; but not unfrequently they are the 
property of the Lords of Manors of their districts, as part 
of the wastes of their Manors, and are therefore not sub- 
ject to inclosure, without the consent of the Commoners. 
It often happens, however, that the main part of the 
waste has been inclosed, and that nothing remains of 
it but the road-side strips; and where this is the case, 
but for the rights of the public, the lord may venture 
to inclose without much fear of being called to account. 
Fortunately, there is no doubt as to the law, or as 
to the right of the public to the continued use and enjoy- 
ment of the road-side wastes. The law, however, is 
apparently little known, even to those whose right it is 
to put it in force, and to abate inclosures of these strips 
of land; for complaints are frequent, from all parts of 
the country, that encroachments take place, and that 
the highway authorities, so far from preventing them, 
are too often aiders and abettors in them. 
It has been well-settled law, for many years past, 
that the public have the right of way over the road-side 
wastes, no matter what the width of the metalled road 
may be, and that any obstruction erected on them, in 
the way of fences or otherwise, is a nuisance, for 
which the author may be indicted in a Criminal Court. 
The highway authorities have no power to consent 
to such encroachments on the rights of the public, 
and though the law has not cast upon them the same 
obligations to protect the road-side waste as in 
T 
