The Doctrine of 'Ad Medium Filum Viae' Explained
In English property law, when a road parcel is unregistered, the legal doctrine 'ad medium filum viae' (Latin for 'to the center line of the way') creates a rebuttable presumption.
Unless title deeds specifically exclude the road, the law presumes that when the adjoining plots were sold, each buyer acquired ownership of the subsoil beneath the road up to the halfway mark.
Practical implications of the midline rule:
• You own the soil under the road outside your front boundary to the street midline.
• However, that ownership is subject to all public and private surface rights of way.
• You cannot dig up the road or block access without committing an actionable trespass or private nuisance.