RIGHT OF WAY 52 RIGHTS OF MAN RIGHT OF WAY, the right which the public has to the free passage over roads or tracks. The expression is more gen- erally applied to those public routes which are not statutory roads, such as hill or field paths, drove roads, bridle and other paths, and cart or driving roads in the common use of the public, which are not kept up by the county authorities. In many instances these roads are the only means of communication between impor- tant districts; and generally they are the shorter, and often the more picturesque, ways from one point to another. Right of way also exists along the seashore and on the banks of tidal rivers. The law of rights of way is judicial and not statutory. In Scotland, where of late the chief causes celebres have originated, 40 years' continuous use by the public of such roads or paths is the prescriptive period for constituting a right of way; while in England the public acquire a right of way under dedication to them by the owner of the soil, and user sig- nifying their acceptance of the same, or when dedication can fairly be assumed from notorious user, which needs gener- ally to be proved for a lengthened period, but which may yet, according to circum- stances, be presumed from a period of user of only a few years. In Scotland there is no public authority for the protection of the interests of the public in rights of way, or for their maintenance. They are in the position of being left to chance; and "what is everybody's business is nobody's business" has resulted in many valuable rights be- ing lost. The public, or individual mem- bers of the public, have to incur the coats and risks of litigation in the courts under an action of declarator to recover a road which a proprietor has closed, and it is difficult for them to do this. In Eng- land, though there is also no direct pub- lic authority for the guardianship of rights of way, yet their maintenance is so far provided for under section 10 of the Local Government (England) Act, 1888, which enacts that county councils "may, if they think fit, contribute toward the costs of the maintenance, repair, enlargement, and improvement of any highway or public footpath in the county, though the same is not a main road." Both in Scotland and England influen- tial societies exist for the purpose of as- sisting in the protection of public rights of way — viz., the Scottish Rights of Way and Recreation Society, Edinburgh, founded in 1844 and reconstituted in 1884, and the National Footpath Preser- vation Society, London, founded in 1884. There are also several societies for spe- cial districts. See Roads. RIGHTS, DECLARATION AND BILL OF. The Convention Parliament which called the Prince and Princess of Orange to the throne of England set forth, in a solemn instrument known by the name of the Declaration of Rights, the funda- mental principles of the constitution which were to be imposed on William and Mary on their acceptance of the crown. This declaration (February, 1689), drawn up by a committee of the Commons, and assented to by the lords, began by declaring that King James II. had committed certain acts contrary to the laws of the realm, and, having abdi- cated, had left the throne vacant. The main provisions of the Declaration, and of the Bill of Rights (October, 1689), based on it, were to the effect that the power of suspending and of dispensing with laws by regal authority is illegal; that the commission for creating the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all commissions and courts of the like nature, are illegal; that the levying of money for the use of the crown by prerogative, without grant of Parlia- ment, is illegal; that it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all prosecutions for such petitioning are ille- gal; that the raising or keeping of a standing army in time of peace, except with consent of Parliament, is illegal; that Protestant subjects may have arms for their defense; that the election of members of Parliament should be free; that freedom of speech in Parliament should not be questioned in any place out of Parliament; that excessive bail ought not to be required, or excessive fines im- posed, or cruel or unusual punishments inflicted; that jurors should be duly im- Eaneled, and that jurors in trials for igh treason should be freeholders; that grants and promises of fines and forfei- tures before conviction are illegal; and that for redress of all grievances, and the amendment, strengthening, and pre- serving of the laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently. The remaining clauses treat of the succession to the crown. RIGHTS OF MAN, DECLARATION OF THE, a famous statement of the con- stitution and principles of civil society and government adopted by the French National Assembly in August, 1789. In historical importance it may fairly be ranked with the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Inde- pendence. It suggested the title for Paine's defense of the French Revolution against Burke (1791-1792) ; which was followed by Mary Wollstonecraft God- win's "Vindication of the Rights of Women."
