The applicant sought to defeat or limit a historic express right of way over a 14-foot laneway burdening its property and benefiting the respondents' neighbouring property.
The court applied the contextual approach to easement interpretation and the fact-driven principles governing abandonment, non-user, acquiescence, and excessive use.
It held that the right of way created in 1909 remained valid and subsisting, had been continuously referenced in conveyances, and had not been extinguished despite periods of non-use and overgrowth.
The respondents' current vehicular access and rear parking use were found to be within the original contemplation of the easement, and the injunction preventing obstruction of the laneway was continued.