Legal Definitions - wheelage

Wheelage is a historical term referring to a payment, similar to a duty or toll, required for a vehicle to travel across a specific piece of property.

This charge was typically levied by the owner of the property (such as a road, bridge, or private land) on individuals or businesses whose vehicles needed to use that property for passage.

• Example 1: Private Bridge Toll

  Imagine a scenario in the 19th century where a wealthy landowner constructed a sturdy, privately-owned bridge over a river, significantly shortening the route between two busy market towns. To recoup the construction costs and maintain the bridge, the landowner imposed a small fee on every horse-drawn cart, wagon, or carriage that wished to cross it. This fee, paid by travelers for their vehicles to use the private bridge, would have been considered wheelage.

• Example 2: Town Entry Duty

  In medieval times, a burgeoning market town might have levied a charge on all merchant carts and wagons entering through its main gates, particularly those laden with goods for sale. This duty helped fund the upkeep of the town's internal roads and its defensive fortifications. The payment made by merchants for their vehicles to gain access to and traverse the town's property would be an instance of wheelage.

• Example 3: Industrial Access Road

  Consider an early 20th-century logging company that owned the only well-maintained road connecting its remote timber operations to the nearest railway depot. Smaller, independent lumberjacks in the region, needing to transport their harvested logs to the same railway, would pay the logging company a regular fee for each truckload of timber that used the company's private access road. This payment for vehicle passage over the specific private property constitutes wheelage.