Boundaries - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition boundaries

Definition :

Boundaries are the lines marking the division between two adjacent territories. The boundary may be (a) physical, or (b) national and supported by documentary or other evidence. (a) may consist of walls, fences, hedges or ditches, and the presumption is that the outer line along the top line of the ditch bank furthest from the hedge marks the boundary of the land on which the hedge, if any, is erected, because the owner of the soil would be presumed to throw up the soil on the his own land for the hedge, but this presumption may be rebutted. Simple fences or ditches and walls frequently belong to the owners of both properties in common, see PARTY WALL.

Physical boundaries may also be roads or non-tidal streams, see Ad medium fil', or the sea or tidal rives, in which case the high-water mark of medium tides is presumed to be the boundary. Williams Real Property, 23rd Edn., p. 463. (b) Unmarked or imaginary boundaries are generally ascertained by reference to maps or plans, or by description in documents.

The practice in regard to Registered Land is regulated by the Land Registration Act, 1925, s. 76, and Rules, 1925, ss. 272-288.

The divisions of counties and the limit of cities and boroughs so far as regards the election of members to sit in Parliament are now governed by the Boundary Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 46), and the Representation of the People Act,1918 (7 & 8Geo. 5, c. 64). The boundaries of municipal boroughs, as fixed under the repealed Municipal Corporations Acts, 1835 and 1836 (5 & 6 Wm. 4, c. 76), ss. 7, 8, and (6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 103), in England and Wales, were not affected by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50). See s. 250 (2) (Now repealed), see infra.

The Local Government Boundaries Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 61), constituted a Commission to inquire into the best mode of so adjusting the boundaries of counties and other areas of local government as to arrange that no poor law union, municipal borough, sanitary district, or parish should be situate in more than one county; and various provisions for the boundaries of counties and other areas for the purpose of the election of county councils are contained in the Local Government Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 51). See also METROPOLITAN POLICE DISTRICT.