Construction Of A Right Of Way

You are fortunate enough to own a house on a large plot of land and wish to realise some of its value by dividing it in two and building another house. Access to the plot is gained via a lane which passes over, and is part of, a neighbour's land; your land enjoys an express right of way over the lane "at all times and for all purposes with or without vehicles". Are you going to be able to use the lane for the construction traffic, and thereafter for access to the second house in addition to the current house?

The extent of an express right depends on the terms of the grant, construed in accordance with the general rules as to the interpretation of legal documents. In St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocesan Board of Finance v Clark (No. 2) [1975] 1 W.L.R. 468 Sir John Pennycuick said, "One must construe the document according to the natural meaning of the words contained in the document as a whole, read in the light of the surrounding circumstances."