Wayleave

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A legal right to pass over another person's land to reach a property or to lay pipes and cables ; a fee paid to the landowner for granting that passage
2. An easement giving access across privately owned ground for utilities or transport ; the rent or compensation handed to the owner for allowing that access
3. Permission to cross or run infrastructure over someone else's property ; the sum of money agreed for that permission to use the land

Etymology: "Wayleave" is a compound of "way" and "leave", where "leave" in the older sense of permission or consent, the same sense that survives in "leave me alone" and "by your leave." Put together, the word means permission to pass along a route, and that original meaning still lies within the modern one: a wayleave is the right to carry something such as a pipeline, cable or power line across land that belongs to someone else. The sense has shifted in a useful way. The word now also names the payment agreed in return for that permission, so a landowner who lets a utility company run its lines across a field is said to receive a wayleave. The meaning moved from a permission, which is an abstract right, to a sum of money, which is a concrete thing, while keeping the same core idea of granting passage through land.

Synonyms: right of way, easement