I would like to know what the laws are regarding the use of foot
pathways on private land that have been in use for a long time ( over
30 years). Does the public have any rights since the use has continued
for so long. Specific laws for California or Fed if applicable please>
Please email me as well as posting as I am not a frequenter to this
grp.
Thank you kindly.

rdoctors@cox.net (ron doctors) wrote:
I would like to know what the laws are regarding the use of foot pathways on private land that have been in use for a long time ( over 30 years). Does the public have any rights since the use has continued for so long. Specific laws for California or Fed if applicable please> Please email me as well as posting as I am not a frequenter to this grp.

I'm not an expert on land use, but my understanding is that if the
public has been using a path for more than five years, and it has not
been posted with a sign that says the right to use the path can be
revoked at any time, an easement has been created.

On the other hand, if you block the path and nobody sues you for five
years, the easement may be extinguished.

Stu

On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 14:39:47 -0500 ron doctors <rdoctors@cox.net> whittled these
words: I would like to know what the laws are regarding the use of foot pathways on private land that have been in use for a long time ( over 30 years). Does the public have any rights since the use has continued for so long. Specific laws for California or Fed if applicable please> Please email me as well as posting as I am not a frequenter to this grp. Thank you kindly.

It is a very complicated and involved subject. It is not one that can
be easily answered even knowing all the facts, and there are many facts
that must be known. What you can do is take a look at some of the codes
involved. Start with California Civil Code Sections 1006 to 1009. It is
best if you go to your local library and see if they have a copy of
"annotated" California codes. That will provide little snips of legal
decisions regarding those codes. You will likely come away fairly
confused. Don't worry, many attorneys come away equally confused. Last
I looked (and its been a while) real property law was the area with the
highest number of malpractice claims based on misunderstanding the law.
So if the answer is really important to you, that is if you need as
correct an answer as you can get, consult with a LOCAL real property
attorney. Not a general practice attorney, not one with experience in
landlord-tenant, but one who has actual litigation experience in
easements and boundary lines.

Now the *practical* answer to your unasked question is that it is both
difficult and expensive to establish such rights but it has been done. If
either party, the one seeking to establish the right, or the one seeking
to defeat it, wants to resist it gets very expensive very fast. As in
you will be lucky if its under $25,000 in attorney fees, nevermind
research and support costs.

Diane Blackman

rdoctors@cox.net (ron doctors) wrote in message
news:<po9q20lnpbpftnqu4j9afju9b1lcbj1t0l@4ax.com>... I would like to know what the laws are regarding the use of foot pathways on private land that have been in use for a long time ( over 30 years). Does the public have any rights since the use has continued for so long. Specific laws for California or Fed if applicable please> Please email me as well as posting as I am not a frequenter to this grp. Thank you kindly.

If it's in California Coastal Commission territory (within 1,000 yards
of the mean high tide line, or between the nearest public road and the
mean high tide line), there is a notion of "public prescriptive
rights". This is one of the few kinds of prescriptive easement that
California recognizes. If the foot path has been in more or less
regular use for at least five years, there may be a prescriptive
easement that the Coastal Commission will investigate and determine
whether it is enforceable.

There's detailed information at
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/access/pr-access-facts.pdf

--
Not a lawyer,

Chris Green

ron doctors wrote: I would like to know what the laws are regarding the use of foot pathways on private land that have been in use for a long time ( over 30 years). Does the public have any rights since the use has continued for so long. Specific laws for California or Fed if applicable please>

I won't pretend to know anything about California law, but I think you'd get
a better answer if you tell a bit more about where that path leads and
from where it begins.

And a bit of USENET practice. Few participants of newsgroups will email
someone who isn't willing to read the group long enough to get an
answer. That goes for all of the dozen or so groups I've frequented.




--
Gerald Clough
"Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."