Way

A passage, street or road. A right of way is a privilege which an individual or a particular description of persons, such as the inhabitants of a particular place, or the owners or occupiers of such place may have, of going over another person's ground.

It is an incorporeal hereditament of a real nature, a mere easement, entirely different from public or private roads.

A right of way may arise, 1. By prescription and immemorial usage. 2. By grant. 3. By reservation 4. By custom. 5. By acts of the legislature. 6. From necessity, when a man's ground is enclosed and completely blocked up, so that he cannot, without passing over his neighbor's land, reach the public road. For example, should A grant a piece of land to B, surrounded by land belonging to A; a right of way over A's land passes of necessity to B, otherwise he could not derive any benefit from the acquisition. The way is to be taken where it will be least injurious to the owner. There are three kinds of ways. 1. A foot-way, called iter. 2. A foot-way and horse-way, called adus. 3. A cart-way, which contains the other two, called via.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.