Municipal Council Of Colombo. V. Hewavitaeana

Present : Mr. Justice Wood Renton and
Mr. Justice Grenier.    July 18 1910

THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF COLOMBO v.
HEWAVITAEANA et al.

D. C, Colombo, 23,830.

Public road-Adverse possession by private individual-Prescription.

Under the Roman-Dutch Law prescription runs even against the public at large, so as to deprive it of portions of the land forming a public road, for, though the public cannot by mere non-use lose its right to a public road, it does not follow that the right may not be lost by adverse user.

THE facts are set out in the judgment of Wood Renton J.

De Sampayo, K.C., for the appellant.-The portion in dispute was once part of a street. Section 3 of Ordinance No. 17 of 1865 defines "street" as "any road, street, &c, whether a thoroughfare or not." The rights of the public to a street are not confined to the metal portion, but extend to the whole space between the fences {Harvey v. Truro Rural District Council J). The rule of law is: " Once a street, always a street." A street cannot cease to be a street by any act on the part of private persons. The public have as much inalienable rights over the h

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