Rich Beatty (responding about a shoreside trail that crosses my land) wrote: > I'm not a lawyer but I do understand that many states recognized established > rights of way. If people have been using the trail regularly for 15(?) years, it > becomes a right of way. The land owner has his restricted rights in such cases. Of course, many states recognize some form of adverse possession or other principle that can result in a public right of way due to usage over time. In the case of my land, that has not happened. It's an issue I'm very familiar with (unlike Rich, I am a lawyer, BTW -- although I suspect Rich chose the wiser professional course <G>). Without getting into the legal doctrine, there are a number of issues that are generally relevant, including the concept of the usage being "adverse." Permitted use does not result in adverse possession. There are many other issues. I respond here mainly because this is a subject that could be relevant to paddlers. . . . But I won't get into in detail at this time. . . BTW, I have been thinking for years of working on a compendium of laws relating to public access to waterways. It would be written for for the non-lawyer (ie, the paddler, rower, sailor, swimmer, etc). I'd welcome any thoughts you guys might have about the usefulness of such a book. . . Mark Lane *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Jul 08 2000 - 17:32:05 PDT
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