right of way

1. 1. The right to pass over property owned by another party.
   2. The path or thoroughfare on which such passage is made.
2. The strip of land over which facilities such as highways, railroads, or power lines are built.
3. The customary or legal right of a person, vessel, or vehicle to pass in front of another.

Right to use a particular path for access or passage; type of Easement.

1. the right to use a particular path for access or passage; a type of easement.
Example: Lot A has acquired a right-of-way across lot B.

noun

The act, condition, or right of preceding: antecedence, precedence, precedency, priority. See precede/follow.

1.  The right of one person or vehicle to travel over another's property, as in The new owner doesn't like it, but hikers have had the right of way through these woods for decades. [Mid-1700s]
2.  The right to precede another person or vehicle, as in Sailboats always have the right of way over motorboats, and swimmers do over any kind of boat. [Early 1900s]

Any strip or area of land, including surface and overhead or underground space, which is granted by deed or easement for the construction and maintenance of specified linear elements such as power and telephone lines; roadways; gas, oil, water, and other pipelines; sewers.

An easement, a privilege to pass over the land of another, whereby the holder of the easement acquires only a reasonable and usual enjoyment of the property, and the owner of the land retains the benefits and privileges of ownership consistent with the easement.

Right of way is also used to describe that strip of land upon which railroad companies construct their roadbed; in this context, the term refers to the land itself, not the right of passage over it.

The term right of way also refers to a preference of one of two vehicles or vessels, or between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, asserting the right of passage at the same place and time. It is not an absolute right, however, since the possessor of the right of way is not relieved from the duty of exercising due care for her own safety and that of others.

Forgoing your rights is the safest way for small boats
One of the most puzzling and worrisome aspects of the collision regulations is that you are bound to hold your course if you have the right of way, so that the give-way vessel can maneuver clear of you if necessary. But the rules also burden you with the responsibility of giving way at the last moment if the other vessel fails to do so in time to prevent a collision.Obviously, you can’t know the maneuverability of every vessel you come up against. You can’t possibly know how quickly she can get out of your way, or how late the other skipper is going to leave it, or even if she has spotted you at all. So if your nerve cracks and you start to give way, and the other boat starts to give way at that same moment, you can find yourselves heading for the same spot, causing a swift last-minute collision with no way out.The rules make no concession to size. In open waters, a large freighter is obliged to give way to a tiny sailing dinghy. Fortunately, sailors themselves tend to apply the rules with common sense, which usually means that small maneuverable boats give way to clumsy leviathans whether or not they have the right of way.If you find yourself on a collision course with a larger vessel, your safest course is to forgo your rights under the collision regulations and get out of her way. However, you must make this decision early on; don’t leave it until the last moment. Change your course early, and change it substantially, so that the other vessel understands your intentions.And if it irritates you to have to give way to the big bullies all the time, remember the old epitaph:Here lies the body of MichaelO’Day, Who died maintaining his right of way.He was right, dead right, as he sailed along, But he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong.See also Collision Bearings; Rules of the Road.

Look up right of way in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Right-of-way or right of way may refer to:

• Right-of-way (transportation), a strip of land granted for a transportation facility
• Right-of-way (traffic), the right of use of a traffic path to the exclusion of another user
• Right of Way (album), an album by Ferry Corsten
• Right of way, priority of attacking in fencing
• Right of Way, a 1983 television film drama

See also

• International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea
• Visual flight rules
• Rights of way in England and Wales
• Rights of way in Scotland
• Easement
• National broadband plans from around the world

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