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29 April 2010 / John Summers
Issue: 7415 / Categories: Features , Public
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The long & winding road

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Once a highway, always a highway? asks John Summers

In R (Smith) v The Land Registry [2010] EWCA Civ 200 Mr Smith occupied a caravan and other land on a byway in Cambridgeshire for over 12 years. The evidence was that he did not obstruct the byway and kept his land tidy. He applied to the Land Registry for first registration of the land by reason of his adverse possession of it. The local council objected to the application on the basis that the land was shown on the relevant definitive map as a public highway open to all traffic. The Land Registry refused the application because the land in question was a public highway. Mr Smith brought judicial review proceedings to challenge the Land Registry’s decision. His claim was dismissed at first instance and he appealed.

Judgments

All three members of the Court of Appeal gave reasoned judgments. Arden LJ noted that while there was a long standing saying in English law to the effect, “Once a highway, always a highway”,

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