Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Adoption definition

What does Adoption mean? Adoption is the court process by which an adult or couple becomes a child’s legal parent(s), permanently replacing the legal status of the birth parent(s). When an adoption order is made, parental responsibility (England & Wales and Northern Ireland) or parental responsibilities and rights (Scotland) transfers in full to the adopter(s); the birth parents’ legal rights and duties are extinguished, subject to any contact the court may authorise. The child is treated in law as the child of the adopter(s) for all purposes, including name, birth registration and inheritance. The law is statutory in each jurisdiction (for example, the...

Highways Act 1980: adopting new streets - s38 agreements, s37 procedure, s278 works, s219 advance payments, s228 dedication, maintenance duties and commuted sums (England and Wales)

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Practice notes

Powers to adopt

The Highways Act 1980 (HiA 1980) empowers highway authorities to take on new highways by agreement, imposes a duty on them to look after adopted highways at the public expense, and enables payments to be made to highway authorities for highway works and their upkeep, where the Authority is content that such works will benefit the public.

Section 38 agreement

Adoption under HiA 1980, s 38 is a well-used mechanism for delivering new highways that are maintainable at the public expense. A developer must build streets to an agreed specification, having obtained the highway authority’s technical approval for the designs. This occurs under a legally binding agreement between the developer and the highway authority made pursuant to HiA 1980, s 38, referred to as a section 38 agreement. The section 38 agreement sets out the developer’s obligations to construct the streets and to keep them in repair for a defined period after completion (typically 12 months). Once those obligations have been properly fulfilled, and the initial Maintenance period has ended, the new streets are automatically dedicated as public highway under the section 38 agreement and thereafter are maintained at the public expense...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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