Keith Davies explores two novel attempts to obtain land—& water—through adverse possession
IN BRIEF
- A public right of way cannot be extinguished by disuse, however long the period of non-use.
- There could be circumstances in which the owner of a vessel moored on a tidal river might acquire title by adverse possession to a part of the river bed or foreshore.
Sometime before May 1995, Wayne Smith arrived with his caravan on a country lane in Cambridgeshire near the village of Willingham. This lane is marked on Cambridgeshire County Council’s definitive map of public rights of way in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as a “byway open to all traffic” (BOAT).
In the resulting dispute over registration, Arden LJ in her judgment said that Smith took up residence with his caravan “and associated structures”. He “provides window cleaning services” and trimmed hedges, and the evidence shows that he was “an established and valued member of the community”.
He applied to the Land Registry for first registration of title (presumably freehold) to the land occupied by his caravan. The assistant
