10Adverse possession of land

10 Adverse possession of land

(1)  No action shall be brought by the Crown to recover any land after the expiration of 30 years from the date on which the right of action accrued to the Crown or, if it accrued to some person through whom the Crown claims, to that person.

(2)  No action, not being an action to which subsection (1) applies, shall be brought by any person to recover any land after the expiration of 12 years from the date on which that right of action accrued to him or, if it accrued to some person through whom he claims, to that person.

(3)  If the right of action referred to in subsection (2) first accrued to the Crown, the action may be brought at any time before the expiration of the period during which the action could have been brought by the Crown, or of 12 years from the date on which the right of action accrued to some person other than the Crown, whichever period first expires.

(4)  Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to any action brought by the Crown to recover any land, or brought by any other person to recover any land held by him for a public purpose, if the land sought to be recovered –

(a) has at any time been –

(i) reserved or set out as a road under any Act or in connection with the alienation of Crown land;

(ii) reserved from sale under any Act relating to Crown lands or dedicated under any Act for any public purpose; or

(iii) reserved in any Crown grant; or

(b) forms any part of the foreshore or the bed of the sea or of any water referred to in subsection (5) .

(5)  For the purposes of subsection (4) foreshore means –

(a) the shore and bed of the sea or of any tidal water below the line of medium high tide between the spring tides and the neap tides; and

(b) where any Crown land has been reserved or excepted from sale as a reserve of any kind beside any lake, river, stream, or other water, any land lying between the reserve and that lake, river, stream, or other water.