Legal Definitions - natural interruption

A natural interruption refers to a pause or break in a legal timeframe or process that occurs due to an event beyond human control or intervention, typically an act of nature. This type of interruption stops the "clock" on a legal period, such as the time required to establish certain property rights, without any formal legal action or deliberate human act.

• Example 1: Adverse Possession and a Wildfire

  Imagine a person attempting to claim ownership of an abandoned rural cabin through adverse possession, a legal principle requiring continuous, uninterrupted occupation of the property for a specific number of years. If a massive, uncontrollable wildfire sweeps through the area, forcing the individual to evacuate the cabin and making it uninhabitable for several months, this would constitute a natural interruption. The period of time the cabin was inaccessible due to the fire would not count towards the continuous occupation required for adverse possession, effectively pausing the legal timeframe until occupation could resume.

• Example 2: Prescriptive Easement and a Landslide

  Consider a homeowner who has been openly and continuously using a dirt path across a neighbor's undeveloped land to access a public hiking trail for 18 years, aiming to establish a prescriptive easement (a right to use another's land for a specific purpose, typically acquired after 20 years of continuous, open, and hostile use). If a severe earthquake causes a significant landslide that completely destroys a section of the dirt path, rendering it impassable for an extended period due to natural geological changes, this would be a natural interruption. The time the path was unusable due to the landslide would break the continuity requirement for establishing the easement, resetting or pausing the 18-year count.

• Example 3: Water Rights and a Drought

  In some jurisdictions, the right to use water from a stream or river (known as riparian rights or appropriative rights) can be dependent on continuous beneficial use. If a severe, prolonged drought causes the stream to completely dry up for several years, making it impossible for a landowner to divert or use the water during that period, this would be a natural interruption. The inability to use the water due to the natural phenomenon of the drought would pause or affect the continuity of use required to maintain or establish certain water rights, without any human action to stop the water flow.