Highway Act 1835
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The Highway Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will 4 c 50) is an Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
. It was one of the Highway Acts 1835 to 1885.


Parish boards

The Highway Act 1835 placed
highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
s under the direction of parish surveyors, and allowed them to pay for the costs involved by
rates Rate or rates may refer to: Finance * Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government * Exchange rate, rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another Mathematics and science * Rate (mathema ...
levied on the occupiers of land. The surveyor's duty is to keep the highways in repair, and if a highway is out of repair, the surveyor may be summoned before the courts and ordered to complete the repairs within a limited time. The surveyor is also charged with the removal of nuisances on the highway. A highway nuisance may be abated by any person, and may be made the subject of indictment at
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
. The board consists of representatives of the various parishes, called way wardens together with the justices for the county residing within the district. Salaries and similar expenses incurred by the board are charged on a district fund to which the several parishes contribute; but each parish remains separately responsible for the expenses of maintaining its own highways. The amending acts, while not interfering with the operation of the principal act, authorize the creation of highway districts on a larger scale. The justices of a county may convert it or any portion of it into a highway district to be governed by a highway board, the powers and responsibilities of which will be the same as those of the parish surveyor under the former act.


New road offences

The Highway Act 1835 specified as offences for which the driver of a carriage on the public highway might be punished by a fine, in addition to any civil action that might be brought against him: *Riding upon the cart, or upon any horse drawing it, and not having some other person to guide it, unless there be some person driving it. The Highway Act 1835, section 78: "That if the Driver of any Drivers of Waggon, Cart, or other Carriage of any Kind shall ride upon any such Carriage, or upon any Horse or Horses drawing the same, on any Highway, not having some other Person on Foot or on Horseback unless some to guide the same (such Carriages and Carts as are driven with Reins, other Person and are conducted by some Person holding the Reins of all the Horses guide them. drawing the same, excepted)" *Negligence causing damage to person or goods being conveyed on the highway The Highway Act 1835, section 78 *Quitting his cart, or leaving control of the horses, or leaving the cart so as to be an obstruction on the highway. *Not having the owner's name painted up. The Highway Act 1835, section 76 *Refusing to give the same. *Driving animals or a 'carriage of any description' on the footway. The Highway Act 1835, section 72: "If any person shall wilfully ride upon any footpath or causeway by the side of any road made or set apart for the use or accommodation of foot passengers; or shall wilfully lead or drive any horse, ass, sheep, mule, swine, or cattle or carriage of any description, or any truck or sledge, upon any such footpath or causeway; or shall tether any horse, ass, mule, swine, or cattle, on any highway, so as to suffer or permit the tethered animal to be thereon." (Section 72 - see below for details) *Not keeping on the left or near side of the road, when meeting any other carriage or horse. This rule does not apply in the case of a carriage meeting a foot-passenger, but a driver is bound to use due care to avoid driving against any person crossing the highway on foot. At the same time a passenger crossing the highway is also bound to use due care in avoiding vehicles, and the mere fact of a driver being on the wrong side of the road would not be evidence of negligence in such a case. *The playing of
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
on public highways, with a maximum penalty of forty
shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
. The Highway Act 1835, section 72 (since repealed)
if any person ..shall play at Foot-ball or any other Game on any Part of the said Highways, to the Annoyance of any Passenger or Passengers .. shallpay any Sum not exceeding Forty Shillings


Section 72

Section 72 provides: "''If any person shall wilfully ride upon any footpath or causeway by the side of any road made or set apart for the use or accommodation of foot passengers; or shall wilfully lead or drive any horse, ass, sheep, mule, swine, or cattle or carriage of any description, or any truck or sledge, upon any such footpath or causeway; or shall tether any horse, ass, mule, swine, or cattle, on any highway, so as to suffer or permit the tethered animal to be thereon.''" This clause is referred to by the current
Highway Code ''The Highway Code'' is a set of information, advice, guides and mandatory rules for road users in the United Kingdom. Its objective is to promote road safety. The ''Highway Code'' applies to all road users including pedestrians, horse riders ...
: (The offence of driving on a bridleway is covered by a later act)(The
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
cited this section in 2006 when it ruled that
Segway The Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen and brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, subsequently as the Segway PT, and manufactured by Segway Inc. ''HT'' is an initialism for "human transp ...
s could not be legally used on
pavements Pavement may refer to: * Pavement (architecture), an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering * Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways ** Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface * Sidewalk or pavement, a walkway al ...
in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.) 1973


Related and subsequent acts

The
Public Health Act 1875 The Public Health Act 1875c 55 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, one of the Public Health Acts, and a significant step in the advancement of public health in England. Its purpose was to codify previous measures aimed at combatin ...
vested the powers and duties of surveyors of highways and vestries in urban authorities, The
Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
gave the responsibility of maintaining main roads to
county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...
s.


Notes


References

;Documents referenced from 'Notes' section * ;Other references for article


External links

* {{UK legislation 1835 in law United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1835 1835 in transport Transport policy in the United Kingdom Transport legislation History of transport in the United Kingdom