Bridge - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition bridge

Definition :

Bridge [g'fnra, Gk.; pons, Lat.; bric, Sax.], a building erected across a river, ditch, valley, or other place, for the common benefit of travellers. The' Statute of Bridges' (22 Hen. 8, c. 5), (which see, with other statutes, Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Highways (Bridges)'), provides for the rating of the inhabitants of a county or borough for the repair of bridges not repairable by any person ratione tenur'. As to the offence of pulling down, throwing down, or destroying a bridge, see (English) Malicious Damage Act, 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 97), ss. 29 and 33.

The management of county bridges is transferred from justices to county councils by s. 3, para Viii., of the (English) Local Government Act, 1888; and by s. 6 of the same Act the county councils may purchase bridges not being county bridges, and may erect new bridges. And see (English) Pub. Health Act, 1936, s. 343. The construction and repair of railway bridges over or under a public highway is mainly regulated by the (English) Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 20), ss. 46 et seq. See Rhondda Urban Council v. Taff Vale Railway, 1909 AC 253 and TRUNK ROADS.

The (English) Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 53), s. 30, deals with power to prohibit or restrict the use of vehicles on certain bridges.

Bridge, includes any abatements or other parts of a bridge and if the person to whom the bridge belongs is responsible for its maintenance, the surface of the highway carried by or giving access to the bridge and to any embankment, retaining wall or other work or substance supporting or protecting the surface of that highway, Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 21, 4th Edn., Para 795, p. 582.

Means a tunnel and structure by means of which a highway is superimposed over a cutting, Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 21, 4th Edn., Para 794, p. 581.

Bridge, includes so much of the approaches to it as supports or protects the surface of the trunk road or special road, Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 21, 4th Edn., Para 779, p. 569.

Means the structure the sole purpose of which is to provide a way over a highway, Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 21, 4th Edn., Para 772, p. 565.

Bridge, does not include a culvert, but means a bridge or viaduct which is part of a highway and includes the abutments and any other part of a bridge but not the highway carried by it, Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 21, 4th Edn., Para 770, p. 564.