Editing River Avon, Hampshire (section)

==Rights of way==
[[Canoeists]] seeking lawful passage as high as Salisbury have attempted to invoke the 1644 Navigation Act in their favour.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6387319.stm | work=BBC News | title=1664 Law Could Prove Right To Row | date=23 February 2007}}</ref> However, the Act was subject to enabling works, most of which were never completed, hence the right is disputed. Responsibility for delivery was given to private undertakers in the names of Hodges, Bennett and Dennett, who were to fund the canalisation between the places. They were allowed to charge their investment at 10% interest rate and could take full commercial advantage, which tripartite agreements from 1684 and 1685 evidence. The [[House of Commons Journal]] of 31 January 1699 records that the freeholders, inhabitants and residents of Ibsley and Fordingbridge petitioned the House on the fact that they could not comply with the 1664 Act and were never likely to do so. The House sided with them and effectively declared its view of the law, the finality of which, lacking [[royal assent]], the [[Rights of Way in England and Wales|law of rights of way]] is unclear on but makes more likely the view that the Act became [[voidable contract|voidable]] as the works to canalise the Avon were never implemented. Indecisive court cases were brought in 1737 and 1772 to enforce the alleged but not exercised right (to benefit barge owners).<ref>{{cite journal|year=1970|title=The Salisbury Avon Navigation|journal=Industrial Archaeology|publisher=David & Charles|volume=VII|issue=2|pages=121–135|last1=Cross|first1=Donald Alfred Edgar}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Material_for_the_History_of_Wiltshire_Canals#Salisbury_Avon_Navigation|title=Material for the History of Wiltshire Canals: Salisbury Avon Navigation|publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]]|author=The National Archives|work=Your Archives|access-date=17 June 2010}}</ref>