The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-10
gkaaessalt gntelIigetfeE.
Wars Over the Farm.

Others may acquire right of way over
yonr farm in either one of three modes:
list, By purchase or grant from you. I'd,
BY. long continued use or prescription.
Sd, By actual necessity. AS to the first
method, to gain permanent right by
purchase or grant, it must have been by
j q regular and complete deed, executed
in the same way as deed of the land
itself. Ifthe bargain was only oral, or
if it was even in some simple written pa
per, but not in formal deed under seal,
it would, even though fully paid for, be
in law reyocable-a mere license as 1t IS
called-and might be terminated at the
mere wish of the landowner, by notice
to the other party to use it no longer.
Being a kind Of interest in land, the
strict law requires it to be conveyed by
deed.
9. The second mode, by prescription,
REQUIRES length of time-twenty years at
least; and the way must have been used
continuously, peacesbly, and under
claim of right to do so, and not by your
permission or consent. If it was only
very rarely used, if il was not peaceably
used, but against your protest, or if used
by your tacit consent, the use would not
ripen into q legal right, however long
: continued. And, if used under all those
conditions, it must have been in some
regular and uniform place. No man
can gain a right by such means to wan
: der over your farm just where he has a
mind to or where his convenience suits
him. That would be an intolerable bur-
den to the farmer.
To gain this right by twenty years use,
It is not necessary that any one owner
5 should have travelled it twenty years. II
successive owners have uDitedly used
$, il for that period, it would be sufficient
So far as length of time is concerned.
And if this prescriptive right of way was
gained only by using it for some particu-
lar purpose, as for carting wood from q
wood-lot beyond, that would not author.
ize the person to continue to use it for all
purposes, after the wood had been cut OF
and it had been covered over with bull
dings.
8. The third mode, by necessity, arises
when you sell man a back lot, with nc
means for him to get to any highway
except over your remaining land. The
law gives him right to cross your LAND
to and fro; otherwise his land would be
useless. At present he can't reach 1T BY
balloon to any practicable purposes, and
therefore, he must cross your land. So
ifyou sell man oil your front land re-
~ tanning the back part sold, you retain s
right to cross the lot sold, though YOU
deed in such case says nothing about 1t
and this is SO, even if in your deed yor
warrant the land to be free and cleal
from all membranes. 1t is q familiar
maxim that necessity knows no law"
But the right of way by necessity con
tinues only so lorg as the necessity itsel
continues; and If q highway is after
wards laid out touching the back lant
on the other side, or if the owner after
. wards buys lot adjoining it and be
tween it and a highway, be- sa..o,,as1TfHIN
must go out the figHr he must g
suehptaeeias you designate, if it be {
Z reasonable place. If you mark out {
road or away along the fence, or on thu
poorer ground, he should confne himsel
to that. And if the way becomes mirJ
or out of repair, he must keep it in gooe
condition if he wants to use it. Youl
duty is done when you allow him t
cross; you are not obliged to smooth hi
pathway for him, and rake out the sticks
and stones. But if you actually obstruc
his usual road, or if it becomes suddenly
impossible by natural causes, he would
have right to deviate to one side unit
he has opportunity to remove the OBJ
structions.
All such rights of way are apt to bt
nuisances to the farmer, and not unfre.
quently lead to litigation.
1t is important TO know that, in what
ever mode right of way is acquired
over your land, you have ordinarily 6
right, in the absence of any stipulation
to the contrary, to erect suitable gates OF
bars at the entrances thereto from the
highway; and if the other party leave
them open, and cattle getin, or yours gel
out, he is liable to you for the damage
which ensues.